Hocart 1909 108. Two Fijian Games

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108. Two Fijian Games.Author(s): A. M. HocartSource: Man, Vol. 9 (1909), pp. 184-185Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2840283 .Accessed: 03/12/2013 06:55

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Nos. 107-108.] MAIN. [1909.

the little circle near it, and in other places ; I was told that it was upon this stonethat the early kings of Munster were crowned, and it appeared to me that there washere a link between the prehistoric and the historic which was at least of some

interest from an anthropological point of view. Whether these concentric markingshave been recorded before I do not know; I myself have seen no mention of them-not even in the Encyclopwedia Britannica-anid, as they are very faint, and canprobably only be seen when the sunlight falls upon them brightly at a particularangle, I think it not unlikely that they may hitherto have escaped the observationof. those who would be most interested in them, and that it may be well to note thefact of their existence. A. L. LEWIS.

FUij. Hocart.Two Fijian Games. By A. M. Hocart. INB

The following two games may have been described. If so it will do no harm I UW

to repeat them in order to show how the manner in which a game is played deserves tobe recorded no less than the bare rules. I give them as played in Lau with theLauan terminology:

Fitshi.-A bundle of reeds (ngasau) is heaped on a log (ilango ni ngasau); thereeds, about one foot long, lie parallel and project at both ends. Players, two or miore,sit on each side. One proceeds to flip (lisena) the end of each reed successively so asto drive it out at the other end. He may not make more than one fall at a time and itmust fall clear of the ilango. If he succeeds, he goes on ; if he fails, he yields his turnto the next player; if one end of the reed rests on the ilango it is replaced; if two areknocked down the player keeps one and replaces the other. When all thle reeds havebeen flipped off, each player counts his reeds; each reed is a point (hai).

The game recalls spilikins, in which ivory or wooden needles have to be removedfrom a heap with a small hook without causing any other pin to move. But it isinstructive to note the different spirit in which thev are played. In the European gamestrict rules are enforced with a view to increase the difficulties and hence the excite-ment; the heap may not be re-arranged, and the more confused the heap the better thegame; in fits/i a player can spread out the reeds, as room is made in the progress of thegame. I have seen boys substitute for a short log, on which the reeds had to be piledup, a long one on which they could be laid side by side and not interfere with eachother, which makes the game rather tame from our point of view. In this as in othergames they seem to enjoy the actual exercise of skill rather than emulation; boys-Icannot

sayhow it is with men-keep no account of the score beyond each particular

game.Veimbuka.-Tbis is the Lauan name; in Tailevu it is known as veimbithi. A

straight line is drawn on the beach some eighty metres long, it is called isoso. In themiddle is a small mound (mata ni isoso), which divides the line between two teams (to).The teams line up on each side of the mata. A boy, called mbithi, runs out from onecamp and seeks to reach the opponents line; of course it is no use making straight forit, so he has to run out with as mucll slant towards the adversaries line as the latterallow, for they rush out in a mass to catch him; the one who touches him first ischased by party No. 1, while he tries to run round them or dodge tbrough them totheir own line; the one who catches bim is chased in his turn. The player caught

last and his captor stand to each other as veitumbuna, i.e., granidmother and grandchild;the captor is tumbuna (grandmother), the boy he touches mahumbuna (grandchild);the mahumbuna may not catcll the tumbuna until he has been caught by another.If the pursued can reach the enemy s line uncaught, he places one foot on it; heis said to so, and scores one point (kai) for his side. The so is recorded by digginga finger into the mata ; the holes are made along two parallel lines, each beginning

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1909.] MAN. [Nos. 108-109.

its record on the opposite side and extending to their own. After each so theybegin again.

The game is one in which it is indispensable to note the manner of its playing as

well as its rules, if we wish to use it as evidence of the people s character. Judgingby the rules, there is no reason why the game should not be as highly competitive asfootball, and, like football, it involves rivalry between parties. Yet in practice there isvery little emulation, at least among boys of twelve to fourteen, an age at which thespirit of competition is fully developed among British boys ; each boy plays for himself,runs when he chooses and will simply look on while his side is being beaten if he isnot inclined to run; he will desert the game, go and bathe, or take to some otherpastime that appeals to him at the mnoment. The whole game is merely a pretext torun and take exercise. Yet emulation and party spirit are not remote from theircharacter; in the course of three months I have seen a considerable change amongboys divided into two factions and made to play each other week after week. In thatshort time they had become loyal to their sides, while desertion and negligelnce arealmost suppressed.

Such a change partakes of the nature of a rough psychological experimeut; indefault of any real tests, it raises a presumption, if no more, that lack of emulation andesprit de corps are not racial among Fijians, but that these qualities lack opportunity inthe casual life of small and primitive societies, and are capable of being developed.

N.B.-A g as ng in singer. A. M. HOCART.

REVIEWS.Anthropometry. Ernst.

Das Schulkind in seiner kbrperlichen und geistigen Entiicklung. Dar-gestellt von Dr. phil. Lucy Hoesch-ErDst und Dr. phil. Ernst Neumann. IU1 Teil von Dr. phil. Lucy Hoesch-Ernst. Leipzig: Otto Nemnich Verlag.

This book is a very thorough anthropometric study of Swiss schoolchildren, andwill be of special interest to medical officers and others who have to carry out measure-ments under the Education Administrative Provisions Act. The number of childrenmeasured by Dr. Hoesch-Ernst was not very large (175 boys and 175 girls), but oneach of the subjects, about twenty anatomical characters and three physiologicalcharacters were measured. The ages of the children were from eight to fifteen years.

Extensive tables of measurements of children by other observers are given for the

purpose of comparison, but in few, if any, cases have so many dimensions been measuredas by Dr. Hoesch-Ernst, so that in the case of some no comparison is possible.The necessity for an international agreement in the methods of measurement is

illustrated by several cases in which comparisons are impossible, owing to differencesin the methods of different observers. For example, Dr. Hoesch-Ernst s rule formeasuring the girth of the chest is to pass the tape round so that it touches the loweredge of the shoulder blades at the back, and runs directly above the nipples at thefront. This will give quite a different result from the rule of the AnthropometrieCommittee to measure the girth at the height of the fourth rib. Differences also existin the methods of measuring the circumference of the thigh and of the head.

The greater part of the book consists of a detailed discussion of the various

dimensions measured, of which complete statistical data are given. In every case tablesare given of the average dimensiorns at the various years of school life, and Dr. Hoesch-Ernst has apparently collected all published data relating to children of the same ages inRussia, Germany, America, and other countries for comparison with the Swiss children.In many cases the differences are very considerable, and these appear to be duepartly to difference of race, but also, unfortunately, partly to (lifference in the inethods

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