A Racial Study of the Fijians Part 12

_Face._--Broadness characterizes the Fijian face. Bizygomatic breadth locates them nearer to the Polynesians than to the narrower-faced Melanesians. Strongly developed malars are common, and they tend to project laterally more than frontally. Widest faces appear among the eastern people.

Bigonial and bicanine widths show that generous breadth includes the lower parts of the face, a condition born out by strong gonial angles.

Face length falls between the long-faced Tongans and the definitely shorter-faced Melanesians (pls. 3 and 4).

Some prognathism is common among Fijians, both total and mid-facial, but the condition is not universal nor p.r.o.nounced. The eastern Fijians are the least prognathic (pl. 10).

_Eyes._--Dark brown is the prevailing eye color, although many subjects have medium-brown eyes. Eye folds are only occasional and eye-opening height is usually moderate. Slight eye obliquity is common, more so in the eastern sample.

_Nose (pl. 4)._--Great variability marks the nasal area. The commonest condition is a broad and moderately long nose. Medium nasion depression is frequent; the root is wide and moderately elevated. Bridge breadth is often p.r.o.nounced and the nasal profile is straight to convex. The nasal tip is characteristically thickened and nasal wings are usually flaring.

On the whole, there is a great deal of Melanesian in the Fijian nose; it is Negroid, but not p.r.o.nouncedly. Those aspects of the nose which may be termed Negroid are commoner in the interior hill people and the northwest and least evident in the east.

_Lips (pl. 5)._--Thick and moderately everted lips occur in nearly half the series. This Negroid combination is more manifest in the interior and least in the east. Integumental lips tend to be heavy.

_Teeth._--The condition of the teeth is generally excellent. Most Fijians have broad, roomy jaws that permit complete and uncrowded tooth development. Dental caries are very infrequent. A rather high incidence of edge-to-edge bite is interesting.

_Ears (pl. 5)._--The ears are usually moderate in length and tend to protrude. Ear lobes are commonly large and are more often attached or soldered than free.

CONCLUSIONS

On the whole the Fijians are predominately Melanesian but with numerous Polynesian affinities that vary with locality. The Melanesian qualities are in part Negroid or Negritoid and in part Australoid. The Negroid resemblances are best ill.u.s.trated by frizzly black hair, broad noses with depressed nasion and flaring nostrils, thick lips, and dark pigmentation (pls. 11 and 12). Australoid elements are general hairiness, strong brow ridges, low, sloping foreheads, compressed parietal and temporal areas, and some prognathism (pl. 13). The presence of Australoid suggestions need not mean that they come from Australia, but that they form a part of the Melanesian make-up. This interpretation of the Melanesians as a hybrid people conforms with similar designations by such students as Birdsell[19] and Hooton.[20] Polynesian influence in Fiji is most clearly demonstrated by lighter pigmentation, tall and muscular body build, moderate brachycephaly, broad faces and jaws, high and fairly long noses and strong chins. I found much the same resemblances between Fijians and Polynesians as did Howells;[21]

however, in my comparisons the Polynesian similarities are outweighed and outnumbered by a greater array of Melanesian characters. The essential Melanesian character of the Fijian population is further demonstrated by recent blood-a.n.a.lysis comparisons; the conclusions of Simmons _et al._, identify the Fijians as Melanesian.[22]

The Fijians who live in the interior of Viti Levu show the most frequent Melanesian traits (pls. 11 and 14). These people are shorter, have narrower shoulders and chests; their heads are narrower and lower vaulted; they have broader noses, thicker lips, are hairier, and have darker skins. This condition, occurring as it does in the mountainous interior, which may be regarded as a refuge area, supports the theory that the Melanesian is the earlier component in Fiji.

The eastern Fijians stand in considerable contrast to the interior tribes and are the most Polynesian in appearance (pl. 15). They have lighter skins, greater stature, and heavier musculature. Their heads are broader, as are their faces and jaws; their noses are larger, narrower, and higher bridged, and their chins are more p.r.o.nounced.

The coastal sample might be called intermediate or a more even blend of Melanesian and Polynesian.

The northwestern people resemble the coastal tribes. This means they show fewer departures in either a Melanesian or Polynesian direction.

This also means they do not tell us whether the legendary ancestors, who are supposed to have first landed in Fiji on the northwest coast of Viti Levu,[23] were Melanesian or Polynesian. These data may mean one of three things: (1) the Fijian tradition of a landing at this place eight or ten generations ago is groundless, (2) the immigration did take place but whatever racial traits predominated, whether Melanesian or Polynesian, have been h.o.m.ogenized and obscured by subsequent intermixture and by movements back and forth on Viti Levu, (3) the landing did occur but the ancestors were already a Melanesian-Polynesian blend when they arrived.

LITERATURE CITED

Birdsell. J. B.

1948. Racial Origin of the Extinct Tasmanians. Records of the Queen Victoria Museum, Tasmania, Vol. II, No. 3.

Churchill, W.

1911. The Polynesian Wanderings. Carnegie Inst.i.tute of Was.h.i.+ngton, Publ. No. 134, Was.h.i.+ngton.

Derrick, R. A.

1951. History of Fiji. Printing and Stationery Dept., Suva, Fiji.

Fornander, A.

1878. The Polynesian Race. London.

Hocart, A. M.

1929. Lau Islands, Fiji. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Bull. 62, Honolulu.

Hooton, E. A.

1946. Up From the Ape. Macmillan Co., New York.

Howells. W. W.

1933. Anthropometry and Blood Types in Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

American Museum of Natural History. Anthropological Papers, Vol. 33, Pt. 4.

Roth, G. K.

1953. The Fijian Way of Life. Oxford University Press, London.

Simmon, R. T., J. J. Graydon, and G. Barnes 1945. The Medical Journal of Australia, May 26.

Sullivan, L. R.

1922. A Contribution to Tongan Somotology. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Vol. VIII, No. 4.

Thomson, B.

1908. The Fijians: A Study of the Decay of Custom. Wm. Heinemann, London.