This rate of shrinkage is so slow that our most refined instruments could not detect a change in the solar diameter until after the lapse of 4,000 or 5,000 years. Again, there are reasons for suspecting that the processes of evolution in our Sun, and in other stars as well, may be enormously prolonged through the influence of energy within the atoms or molecules of matter composing them. The subatomic forces residing in the radioactive elements represent the most condensed form of energy of which we have any conception. It is believed that the subatomic energy in a mass of radium is at least a million-fold greater than the energy represented in the combustion or other chemical transformation of any ordinary substance having the same mass. These radioactive forces are released with extreme slowness, in the form of heat or the equivalent; and if these substances exist moderately in the Sun and stars, as they do in the Earth, they may well be important factors in prolonging the lives of these bodies. Speaking somewhat loosely, I think we may say that the processes of evolution from an extended nebula to a condensed nebula and from the latter to a spherical star, are comparatively rapid, perhaps normally confined to a few tens of millions of years; but that the further we proceed in the development process, from the blue star to the yellow, and possibly but not certainly on to the red star, the slower is the progress made, for the radiating surface through which all the energy from the interior must pass becomes smaller and smaller in proportion to the mass, and the convection currents which carry heat from the interior to the surface must slow down in speed. A HISTORY OF FIJI. BY DR. ALFRED GOLDSBOROUGH MAYER IV THE Fijians had a well-organized social system which recognized six classes of society. (1) Kings and queens (Tuis and Andis). (2) Chiefs of districts (Rokos). (3) Chiefs of villages, priests (Betes), and land owners (Mata-ni-vanuas). (4) Distinguished warriors of low birth, chiefs of the carpenter caste (Rokolas), and chiefs of the turtle fishermen. (5) Common people (Kai-si). (6) Slaves taken in battle. The high chiefs still inspire great respect, and indeed it has been the policy of the British government to maintain a large measure of their former authority. Thus of the 17 provinces into which the group was divided, 11 are governed by high chiefs entitled Roko Tui, and there are about 176 inferior chiefs who are the head men of districts, and 31 native magistrates. In so far as may be consistent with order and civilization these chiefs are permitted to govern in the old paternal manner, and they are veritably patriarchs of their people. The district chiefs are still elected by the land owners, mata-ni-vanuas, by a showing of hands as of old.