BROTHER LEO SAILS TO HISTORIC FIJI ISLANDS; PREVIOUSLY KNOWN AS CANNIBAL ISLANDS

Just the name “Fiji” conjures up image of a Pacific Paradise. We were to be at sea five days between the magenta coral lagoons of Bora Bora and our floral encased “islands of love”, Tahiti and Fiji. However, we entered Fijian waters long before we reached Viti Levu, the cigar shaped main island and Suva, the capital of Fiji.
We sailed into the Archipelago of Fiji several days before reaching our destination. Fiji consists of 322 islands distributed over 1.2 million square miles of the Pacific. Only 100 islands are inhabited. The rest lack sufficient land for cultivation. The primary reason no one has settled on these islands is lack of water, “fresh water” that is. Surrounded by more than a million square miles of ocean, the situation recalls a saying of my childhood: “water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink.”
Another phenomena of our approach to Fiji was a crossing of the International Date Line. Everyone knows that there is a one-day loss sailing west and a one-day gain sailing east. Have you recently looked at a map showing the International Date Line? If so, you observed that the line is not a straight line at all, but rather a line which zigzags around groups of islands. The reason is practical: to keep all the Fiji islands in the same day zone.
Another reason many people know about Fiji lies in the area’s earlier name and reputation. The Fiji Islands were originally known as the Cannibal Islands. The original natives arrived about l500 B.C. and were probably Polynesians from SE Asia. Melanesians arrived about 500 B.C. and the integration of these two groups formed the Fiji peoples. At the outset these groups fought for power and control. There was treachery and cannibalism.
The cannibal nature of these islanders was well known. The first European to discover the islands was a Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, in 1643. Captain James Cook came along in 1774. Neither Tasman nor Cook landed because of the threatening nature of the natives. Captain Bley of Bounty fame on his escape to East Timor came too close to these islands and was given chase by the natives. Fortunately a tropical storm intervened which saved Bley and his compatriots.
By 1800, sandalwood was discovered. The natives became more domesticated and commerce began. The forests were stripped to provide joss sticks. A joss stick was a strip of gum from the bark of the sandalwood tree that yields perfume when burned (incense) . By 1814, the forests were denuded and the joss stick trade collapsed. An American Commodore, Charles Wilkes, (American Exploratory Expedition) in 1840 produced a recognizable map of Fiji and by 1885, the British had developed navigational maps of Fiji. In 1846 John Brown Williams was appointed Resident American Commercial Agent, bringing Fiji from rabid cannibalism to emerging capitalism in 75 years.
The London Missionary Society arrived in 1830. Methodist missionaries had converted the Fiji oral language into writing by 1835. But cannibalism had not entirely disappeared. The Reverend Thomas Baker was clubbed, cooked and eaten by the hill people (Kai Thulu) in 1867. A full exhibit in the Fiji National Museum is devoted to his fate.
One of the first native names of importance in Fiji was Chief Cakoban. Fiji consists of two major islands, including Viti Levu (where we were visiting and site of the present capital) and Vanau Levu, historically important but less so today because of Suva located on Viti Levu. Cakoban sought to control both islands and subdue the opposing tribes on either island. He even became a Christian to help himself forge an alliance with the Christian King George of Tonga. King George did provide 2000 Tonga warriors to help Cakoban subdue his opposition.
There is a story about how Fiji almost became an American possession in the Pacific. The home of the earlier mentioned John Brown Williams, Resident American Commercial Agent was destroyed by fire July 4, 1849, reportedly after he had celebrated with too much “fire-water.” The natives carried away all his household effects. Brown sent Cakoban a bill for $5001.38. Cakoban did not pay.
American claims on behalf of Williams grew to $44,000. Cakoban resisted all efforts to extract payment. In 1851 and again in 1855 American gunboats arrived to enforce the claim. Cakoban promised to pay; he did not, but his deception disturbed him. He became especially alarmed when the U.S.S. Tuscaroga arrived in 1867. The ship Captain ordered payment or he threatened to bombard the village and seize the island.
Clever Cakoban resolved the matter in a different way. He awarded the Polynesian (Trading) Company of Australia land rights to 80,400 hectares, involving all of modern Suva, today's capital, if they would pay off the Americans. They did so; we accepted the cash and sailed away. Had we not done so, it is possible that we would have an American Fiji as well as the American Samoa in the Pacific?
Cakoban never did get control of all of the islands. In 1862 he offered to cede his kingdom to Great Britain. The British declined. But by 1864 the British reconsidered for fear that Cakoban would approach another country. Fiji became British October 10, 1874. Fiji has been independent since 1970. The alliance with Britain proved to be beneficial to Fiji. The first two Governor Generals, Arthur Gordon and John Thurston, literally, notes David Stanley in his book, “South Pacific,” created “modern Fiji single-handed.” (p. 513) They pursued a British policy of ruling through native chiefs. In my experience in Nigeria, the success of the British system there was to govern through native kings (Obas) and local chiefs.
An interesting decision of the early Governor Generals was that no Fijian would be compelled to work on European plantations. Gordon has had experience using indentured Indians in his previous assignments in Trinidad and Mauritius. He arranged for 63,000 Indians to immigrate to Fiji between 1879 and 1916. The indentured Indians were freed and given citizenship. Today 50% of the islanders are Indian. The native Fijians still consider the Indians to be second class citizens. The tension is never far beneath the surface, although it is not immediately apparent to a tourist.
Nothing could be more British than Fiji. Most tourists fly to Fiji. Tourists arrive at the airport and are whisked away to one of the many island resorts - rarely to encounter the life of the island except through an occasional shopping trip to Suva. Our ship, Ocean Explorer 1, was able to dock city side. We could step off the gangplank and we were not only at the port but adjacent to the city market. It was Saturday and it was market day. I remembered the open air markets of years ago in downtown LaCrosse, WI. Farmers would come from all around with produce or home products and sell them from booths or directly from their trucks. It was much the same in Fiji.
We explored the open market. It involved perhaps one hundred stalls, but outside along the wall dozens of street vendors, mostly women, were sitting or squatting. They offered a profusion of fruit and vegetables. Choices included cassava, coconuts, bananas, breadfruit, taro, sweet potatoes, lettuce, spinach, cucumbers, carrots, eggplant and more highly local products. Street vendors offered a range of essential and convenience items with their merchandise spread on a cloth or blanket on the ground. Most ordinary products that you and I would go to a store to purchase were readily available and cheaper from the street vendors - most of whom were open to price negotiation and U.S. dollars.
A group of us toured Suva together, first by foot and later by bus. Our walking destination was the Fiji National Museum, the oldest museum in the South Pacific (1904), and surrounded since 1916 by the Thirston Botanical Garden and Young Peoples Sports Park for Intramural Sports, especially rugby. The museum was well designed; exhibits were well presented and were arranged from the Prehistoric era to contemporary Fiji.
One of the interesting exhibits was the story of the missionary, Rev. Thomas Baker, who was killed and eaten by cannibals in 1867. The museum exhibit displays his photo, his missionary cross, his Bible, and interestingly, the uneaten remains of his boots. It seems that Rev. Baker wore hip boots, which the cannibals thought were part of his outer skin. The legend is that they cooked and cooked his boots and found it difficult to "tenderize" the boots. They continued to boil the boots while praising their toughness and crediting Rev. Baker with great personal bodily strength. Eventually the boots came apart, but not all of the boots were eaten. Some portions of the sole and sides remained and were on display. Formerly his skull was also on exhibit but recently it has been removed and stored.
We were also to discover that here, as well as elsewhere, in every place of tourist interest there was a gift shop. Among our tour group sales were always brisk! This was the same museum that most recently had removed Reverend Baker's skull from the exhibit on cannibalism.
The tallest three buildings in Suva were the Central Bank, the Methodist Church and Sacred Heart Cathedral. God and Mammon seem to be in competition. Here it was two for God and one for Mammon. We visited the smallest spot in downtown Suva, a mere triangle of land with a small obelisk to commemorate the 1882 settlement and naming of Suva as capital.
The bustle of downtown Suva is in contrast to the quiet zone surrounding the government buildings. Our walk to the museum led us through government grounds including the central government buildings, the former Colonial Headquarters, Parliament and the Courts, through grounds immaculately maintained, with manicured grass and flowerbeds reflecting a riot of seasonal colors and trees common to the islands.
One thing that I found of interest were two statutes only a few paces apart before the old Colonial Headquarters. A sculpture of Cakoban gazes front and center facing what, thanks to his concession, became British colonial headquarters. Behind his sculpture facing outward to the sea looking toward the cluster of islands comprising Fiji is a life-size statute of Ratu Sir Lala Sukuna, the first Fiji Governor General. The point of interest is that Ratu Sir Lala was the great grandson of Chief Cakoban, who 99 years previously had ceded Fiji to Queen Victoria. Fulfilled in the great grandson was the ambition of Chief Cakoban that he (or his heirs) would rule over all of Fiji. And not by tribal wars or military might, but by democratic election, and all within a century.
Our bus tour took us past the Presidential “White House” with its lone ceremonial guard, to the prime real estate section with the residences of the leading business and political leaders. The government provides the residences of the Prime Minister and Chief Justice while they are in office. Our United States Ambassador's residence is adjacent to the home of the Chief Justice. We visited the University of the South Pacific founded in 1968.
Public health was a priority of the colonial government, which continues even today. The Fiji School of Medicine and Nursing has been training local doctors and nurses since 1928. The island is malaria free. All people have ready access to local public heath clinics and medical facilities, practically free. Our guide told us the clinic visit fee was ten cents, a figure we were not able to verify, but had no reason to doubt.
My afternoon was free for my own explorations. I chose to visit and spend some time at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Built and staffed by Marist missionaries, their Irish heritage is reflected in the choice of St. Patrick and St. Briget for stain glass windows and of St. George to acknowledge the British heritage of the island. Suva is a hilly city very reminiscent of Dubuque. The Cathedral is built on the hillside overlooking the city. It competes with the Central Bank for greatest prominence on the skyline.
In Fiji we could use U.S. dollars, but the change was always in local currency. The currency common for Tahiti, Bora Bora, Fiji and New Caledonia (our next destination) was the Central Pacific Franc (CPF) . During my afternoon shopping I was guarding my local currency, trying to spend it carefully in order not to have too many CPF remaining.
Mid-afternoon, we experienced a tremendous downpour of rain, not unusual in the tropics. Fiji gets 120 inches of rain annually. I decided to wait out the storm - where else but at McDonalds. McDonalds was relatively new in Fiji. The feature was a Big Mac for $1.95 CPF with the purchase of any size coke, the least expensive of which was $1.25 CPF. I was left with 25 cents. That, unfortunately, was not even enough to buy a newspaper. I had been buying newspapers in various countries for a foreign newspaper project organized by Larry Wolfe for his East Elementary School 6th grade class. The McDonald clerk saw me look plaintively at my quarter and heard me say audibly to myself “not even enough for a newspaper.” She felt sorry for this “poor American.” She allowed me to take a copy of the Fiji Times from a stack reserved for customer reading. That's how the Fiji Times got to Waukon!
The Fiji people were very friendly, always greeting us whether in passing on the street, at the church, in the shops, or in the market. They are outgoing, gregarious, cheerful people. Our time in Fiji was all too brief. It was limited only to one city, the capital. National capitals are notoriously unlike their countryside. Yet one had the feeling that Suva was just a larger gathering of people typical of the islands.
So we departed with happy memories. Will I go back? Maybe they will need a management professor at the University of the South Pacific. Wouldn't that be a contrast to my annual overseas teaching assignment in Finland? Fiji or Tahiti? Fiji has my vote!