Social Life in the Fijis.

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 101, 17 October 1871, Page 6

Social Life in the Fijis.

As to the social condition of Levuka, the less said the better. The license and impropriety daily exhibited by so-called gentlemen is hardly conceivable by thosa who have not seen it. This license has not the same tendency as in Sydney or Melbourne. In Levuka there is no demi-monde, no Favoritas ; ladies are quite at a premium, and a tolerably well-behaved and reasonably good-looking "young lady," who can attend a bar, has no difficulty in obtaining 0)3 a week for very easy work ; and it is ten to one Vac gets half a dozen offers of marriage during her first half-year in the place. The license which to a very great extent disgraces the Lcvuka community is this, that might is right, and that he who happens to know most of the " noble science" of the prize ring is cock of the walk.

A certain taint of communism, or give-and- | tike rowdyism, has insinuated itself, in the ; manner in which quarrels are settled, and i unless some sort of lawful authority is estab- ': lished, this might-is-right kind of policy and practice will rapidly spread. Suppose, for instance, (and the example is only one out of a hundred, perfectly true, and wholly unvarnished,) that you have occasion to leave your bedroom door open, (for two very good reasons : first, that the atmosphere would be ; unbearable if it was closed ; and second, beI cause very few doors can be looked, —having ! been forced in times past. Say that, daring jyour absence, your washerwoman deposits 'your clean linen, &;., on the be.l ; or that | you, in your innocence, leave your can de 'cologne or other triih-s on the dressing-table ; and that, coming home for a refreshing wash ' and change of linen, after exposure to a broil- | ing sun, you find a stranger in the act of J bathing his face with your secnteel water?, I after having donned the very best of your i shirts, you exclaim, as I did once, — " What the deuce are you doing here, i sir ?"

; " Doing hero!" answers a hoarse voice from a powerful frame. "Doing here—dressing I myself up, as you see." " But this is my room." "I know it, but as my washerwoman did !not bring my togs, I thought I might, as well | have a shirt of yours, and so I tool; the loan lof this. You can have one of mine as soon ias they come home. It's all right."

" I will ba obliged if you will leave my room." This with somo rising anger, or at asperity. " Oil, certainly, a3 soon as I have combed out ray beard. Fine weather to-clav. though rather hot. Will you have a nip } No ! Ah, well, good morning. I 'll see you again.*' Now, what can be done with such men ? If a quarrel ensues, it is purely a matter of might or "science," and even in the event of a victory over such a scoundrel, what is gained ? A very negative victoi'y indeed, since the whole beach within an hour would ring with the most exaggerated reports of the new " row" between Mr and Scotch Jock or Blackguard Joe. The most impudent thefts are committed in this fashion, and the more readily because, in consequence of the great heat, people arc almost necessitated to leave their dooi'3 open even at night. More serious oTences in the appropriation of the property of others are by no means rave, and the skill displa}'od is often of-the highest kind. There are strong suspicions, too, that the help of drugs is often resorted to in plundering the victims.—-Cor-respondent of a Sydney paper.