Page:Williams and Calvert, Fiji and the Fijians, New York, 1860.djvu/84

PEIEST S BOWL, 60 FIJI AXD THE njTANS. claw-feet — the makers of breast-plates, rings, combs, necklaces, and other ornaments. Fancy oil dishes and yaqona bowls, chiefly for the priests, are cut, as well as the cannibal forks, out of very hard wood, and the form- er in a great variety of forms. I have seen one carved like a duck, another like a turtle, many circu- lar and very flat, with a curiously wrought foot. The large bowl for pre- paring yaqona, is very hea^y, and is giving place to that of Tonga, which is lighter and prettier. The art of wig-making, in which the Fijian excels and glories, seems to be unknown to the other islanders. The native i^rruquier imitates to perfection the hair as worn by Chiefs and dandies. The style, however, which he has to copy is considered admirable in propor- tion as it becomes more successfully unnatural ; and hence his task is made easier. Some wigs, except as to colour, closely resemble the barristers' ^vigs of our o^ii civilized courts, and some have a complete set of whiskers and moustaches attached. Most of their different employments are followed by the Fijians only occasionally, and as want may make them necessary. All — even children — can do something at building, and most at canoe-cutting ; but there are parts of these trades which are only undertaken by skilled workmen. AYhen free from the claims of necessary employment, a man will rub do^n a large trochus for an armlet, file out a ring for his finger, or scrape into form the teeth of a comb ; and it is thus that such articles are generally made. While each individual, therefore, seems averse to doing more than is absolutely necessary, yet the people generally show a fair advance in the useful arts, and do a con- siderable amount of work. The entire product, however, yields but little beyond the daily consumption ; and the people must remain poor until they learn the utility of dividing labour and varying its results, so as to insure an increase of that surplus in which alone their wealth can consist. Until recently the Fijian mechanic had no iron wherewith to form his tools, which were, of course, few and simple. The axe or adze was a hard stone ground into precise resemblance to the celt of our own forefathers, and tied with surprising firmness to a handle formed of a branch of a tree, ha^•ing at one end an angle or knee formed by a shoot