Report of the Commission appointed to Inquire into the Decrease of the Native Population, with appendices.

  • Fiji. Commission appointed to Inquire into the Decrease of the Native Population.
Date:
1896
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Commission appointed to Inquire into the Decrease of the Native Population, with appendices. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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    of old upon their exercise of the old club law, in obedience to the introduction of tlie new laws of a settled Government, waned, until their authority retained only the prestige of their hereditary birthright. But it is a significant fact, not to be disregarded for the purpose of this inquiry, that club law, as exercised by tlie chiefs under their ancient regime in Fiji, had sufficed to keep in check the animal passions of their 'people, for in those days morality was the rule, its transgression the exception, for the penalty of its transgression was the club. But now a great social change was taking place, and a tide of immorality had set in which soon flowed over the whole land. This new departure was recognised as an evil by the chiefs; but, deprived of their use of the club, they were powerless to stem its torrent; nor did the new laws of a settled Government avail to check its progress, for, lacking the penalty of severe corporal punishment, the new laws have no terror for the Fijian, whose sense of honour, if it exists, is so slightly developed that imprisonment is no real punishment or disgrace to him, nor does it shame liim in his own eyes or those of his fellows. Comparatively speaking therefore, unchecked, this evil of a wide- spread laxity of morals amongst the Fijian youth of both sexes has grown apace, until the grave charge cannot be burked that nowadays only a minority of the females have retained their virginitj' at the time of marriage, and, moreover, that the husband has ceased to look for virginity in his bride. Startling, perhaps, as this charge may appear to some, should it be doubted but the most cursory inquiry will serve to establish its pregnant truth; further inquiry will lead to the proof that the females commence fornication at an early age ; and when this, as a matter of course, too frequently ends in pregnancy, they resort but too often to the use of medicines to procure abortion. Of old these medicines were only known to but a few of the old people and by them kept secret, but nowadays these medicines are almost universally known and as almost univer- sally made use of. By the natives this practice of abortion during the first or second month of ]5regnancy, and even its frequent repetition, is held to be quite harmless to the woman, and it certainly is not looked upon as a crime ; but it is admitted to be both difficult and somewliat dangerous at a more advanced stage of pregnancy, when abortion is no longer procurable by the use of medicines, but only by an operation, which also is practised. Its grave importance and its close connection with the subject and intent of the present inquiry may suggest the query to the medical profession as to whether the females of a race, given in early youth to fornication and to the habitual practice of abortion, and who do not shrink from its repetition before marriage, and not at all seldom after marriage, can become the mothers of perfectly healthy children ? and, further, if this pernicious practice is not to a large extent accountable for the small families of the native women, amongst whom few have three living children, still fewer four, whilst the mothers of five living children are few and far between ; and my Vaccination Register of above 26,00'J of the population only shows two mothers of six living children, one found in the province of Nadroga and one in the province of Ba. The epidemic of measles may, perhaps, be credited with having dealt the most deadly and lasting blow at the vitality of the Fijians. For my own part, I do not believe that the healtli of the people has been as good since as it was before the measles; and that fatal epidemic has been followed by the epidemics of whooping-cough, dengue fever, and intluenza of the severe type, (influenza of a mild type had been long known,) until it is now certain that the infants of the present age have to run the gauntlet of a host of diseases that were unknown in Fiji before the advent of that fatal epidemic—the measles ; and it may be admitted, I think, that no precautions could have averted the arrival in the Colony, sooner or later, of the measles. These diseases of modern times are of a type unknown to the natives, and for which they have no native medicines, and are diseases that prove specially fatal to infants, because these diseases demand treatment in nursing, diet, and the preser- vation of warmth which the mother knows not and fails to bestow on her child ; and she is ignorant of the danger of her neglect. And mothers may be seen in the pursuit of their usual avocations, including fishing, and ci-ab-hunting in the tiri swamps, in spite of any regulation to the contrary, and in all weathers, with their children on their backs. If remonstrated with, some reason is given for not being able to leave their children at home, and for the necessity of doing tlieir work and for carrying their children with them ; and it follows that the children are frequently exposed to wet and cold, and possibly to a dangerous extent, in this way. Thus it appears demonstrable that savage races, first ajjproaehed by missionaries with religious teachings, for their conversion to Christianity, are soon afterwards called upon to encounter the influx of aliens of a dominant race, and almost at a jump are expected to accept and to adopt their customs, laws, and civilisation—the result of ages of national advance— with the result that tlie ignorant savage is unequal to the effort demanded of him and succumbs, his fate hastened by the fact that the introduction of civilisation is inseparable from the contingent introduction of the diseases incidental to the dominant civilised alien race, who have learnt how to deal with those diseases, but which knowledge is not possessed by the savage. Thus the desirableness of his conversion to Christianity and the apparent advantages of his civilisation, as viewed from our side, the ]5rofessed benefactors of the savage, have imfortunately proved fallacious through the insejjarable introduc- tion of new diseases that prove fatal to his race. To this fatality many other causes doubtless contribute more or less, and are ever in operation, but are not of such easy recognition nor capable of such precise definilion as the agencies above set forth, which, apparently, are as far beyond control as is the advance of an epidemic by the attemjited barrier of quarantine, and thus the problem of how to stay the visible decadence of the Fijians may well be held to be exceedingly difficult to solve. But, if the solution be not forthcoming, it is clear that efllort at mitigation may be attempted— 1. To check the prevalent immorality ; 2. To stamp out the crime of abortion ; 3. The general improvement of the sanitary conditions under which the mass of the people dwell ; - 4. The storage of Fijian arrowroot in all towns to make provision for a supply of food in case of all the inhabitants being laid low at the same time by an epidemic, and none able to go out to the plantations to bring in food. (This happened in the measles, and starvation was the cause of deatli in every town in too many instances. This danger was felt to a certain extent in the recent epidemic at the close of last year.) Upon the first two suggestions I offer no opinion. • (3.) The general improvement of the towns : for, if many towns have been removed from objectionable and unhealthy sites to drier and healthier positions, it is certain that still many more towns have to be inspected, condemned, and removed in like manner. That all houses in future shall be built upon foundations raised from 2 to 4 feet above the level, and the sides of the foundations to be faced with stones, as seen in Colo, Vitilevu. The rigid tabu of all towns to the intrusion of pigs within the precincts of the town. The towns are now disgustingly filthy with the excrement of that animal, which is again the scavenger of human excrement. A fence can be erected and maintained in pig-proof efficiency around every town, at a proper distance, excluding pigs under the severe penalty of the destruction of the pigs. To cause to be made two proper W.-Cs., i.e., holes 10 feet deep, with a pig-proof fence around them, reeded for decency, one for the males and the other for the females of every mataqali in every town, and regulations compelling their use. (4.) The storage of Fijian arrowroot commends itself because it is the only food non-attractive to rats, ants, and cock- roaches. Empty kerosene tins provide a good receptacle, as well as a measure of contents. Fijian arrowroot simply wetted, packed in leaves, and heated on the fire, is very palatable eaten with a little salt, solid, and not unlike madrai kai, easily prepared, and good food for the sick. Still better would be the grated and sun-dried vudi diiia, or plantain, which was in common use when I first came to Fiji, but I have not seen it of late years. This is the food recommended by Stanley in '■ Darkest Africa, but he calls the fruit bananas, evidently what we call plantains. I don't think it can be prepared from China bananas. These suggestions I desire to supplement with the recommendation of the appointment of European Sanitary Inspectors, for a period at least extending to their furnishing a complete report upon all towns in all districts. The chiefs do not understand the duty of inspection of either towns or houses, and their inspection is but a farce. If this suggestion is deemed too expensive, I would respectfully ask how is it that a paternal Government has so long neglected so obvious a duty ? And I am confident that, if the appointment of competent officers is made, their report will justify the expenditure ; and, if a suspicion exists—which truly it may—that the unhealthy position and condition of very many of the towns is but partly accountable for the excessive mortality, such expenditure will be more than justified. WM. GRABUEN.