On account of the great number of distinct tribes on the different islands, wars were very frequent. These tribes were led by chiefs who rarely possessed great authority and seldom bore any distinguishing mark, although in New Caledonia they wore a special cap (pl. 12, fig. 6). On the Fcejee Islands, however, the kings and the lower chiefs were held in the highest—even in idolatrous—veneration, and possessed great influence. They had power, for example, to pronounce the religious interdict, the taboo, on whatever they chose, and, in consequence, the tabooed article was permitted to them alone. There were various marks to show that a thing was tabooed; the leaves and fruit of the cocoa-palm often served this purpose (pl. i2, fig. 25). The taboo prevailed throughout all Melanesia. The priests were next in rank to the chiefs; the slaves were the lowest grade. Rank as well as property was inherited through the mother. There were various judicial institutions, punishments, oaths, and ordeals.
Religious religion was like that of the Polynesians gener ally, only more sterile and prosaic. They believed in personal deities, and also in guardian spirits, and the souls of their ancestors were of particular consequence. Idols were common; the guardian spirits especially were represented (p/. 9, figs. 2o, 24; 1i1. 13, fig. 12), and the sacred stones of the Feejeeans (/5/. 13, fig. 2) were nothing but miniature images of their ancestors, as is shown by the belts with which they were sometimes adorned. Priests, temples, and sacrifices were found everywhere; the priests were also magicians, fortune-tellers, weather-sages, and physicians. For here, too, disease was considered nothing but demoniacal possession, although they also used some medicine.
Dea-/lz and dead were mourned by loud lamentations, which (at least in the Feejee Islands) gave place to a succession of festiv ities. Women and slaves were sacrificed at the graves of men of rank.
The dead were either buried, a little house being built over the grave, or else were left to decay on an open scaffolding. The skulls were preserved at home or (in the northern districts) they were all placed in special rich ly-adorned enclosures, which were erected deep in the woods (pl. r r,fis-. io); for nothing was considered more dishonorable than that the enemy should gain possession of the remains of the dead and make drinking cups or tools or anus out of them. They held that the soul feels what the corpse suffers. Coffins were often made skiff-shaped.
Social Feejeeans illustrate the abilities of the Mela nesian race, but, as many of the tribes are in very unfavorable conditions, we must not be surprised to find marked differences as to civilization and character. Christianity, being taught in a sensible manner by the Mela nesian missionaries, is now making progress on the uncivilized islands. Almost all the Feejeeans are nominally Christians—many of them really such. They have proved themselves quite capable of receiving European civilization. The other Melanesians seem equally capable, but many of them have had but little and others only a hostile contact with the whites, generally through the fault of the latter.
languages also show the remarkable capability of the race. They are polysyllabic, and replace declension as well as conju gation by added particles, which, however, are blended with the root less frequently than in the Australian dialects. The real centre of the lan guage is the personal pronoun, which has, besides the singular number, several multiple numbers (a dual, a trial, and a plural), and on its various forms depend the person and the number of the verb. The phonetic system of the dialects, of which there are many, is strong and rich.