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Jul 30, 2018
4 min

Chiefly - an adjective unique to Fiji?

In the last few weeks, I've been humbled by the generosity of readers who volunteered to read an advance proof of Death by Tradition, the second Fiji Islands Mystery, to be released in August. Eagle-eyed readers have reported misplaced commas, missing quotation marks and other slip-ups which I have now corrected. But it surprised me that several readers questioned my use of the adjective chiefly to describe the possessions, titles or behaviour of Fijian chiefs and their famil

B.M. Allsopp

Feb 27, 2018
2 min

Tripping over Fiji body talk - 2

It's 28th February - just in time to keep my vow to write a new post every month in 2018. Whew! Vinaka (thanks) to readers who told me they liked my last post, where I described my initial confusion about the Fijian gesture of eyebrow-raising. Today I'll explain another key feature of Fijian body-talk which can perplex visitors. Mind your head! In Fiji, as in a great many other cultures, bowing the head expresses respect. But in Fiji, this goes beyond a formal greeting. When

B.M. Allsopp

Apr 19, 2017
2 min

Cannibal Coiffure

Here are a couple of travellers' reviews from the early 1800s: "...if in anything the natives have a claim to originality and versatility of genius, it is in hairdressing" "Their heads surpass imagination." Whose hairdos sparked such wonder in foreign visitors in the early 19th century? Perhaps those of courtiers of London or Vienna in their powdered elaborate wigs? No, it was the heads of the war-like cannibals of the beautiful Fiji islands that wowed educated missionaries a

B.M. Allsopp

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