飞上枝头看飞枝

亲爱的小文：

爸爸坐牢前一年（一九七○），太平洋（Pacific Ocean）里有一个小国独立了，她只有台湾一半大，名字叫飞枝（Fiji），她原是英国的，所以国旗里头有四分之一的地方是英国国旗。

飞枝有两个大岛，八○○个小岛。加在一块儿叫飞枝群岛（Fiji Islands）。

飞枝共有五十万人，里头有中国人。

飞枝的国都叫Suva（Capital and Commercial Center of the Fiji Island is Suva. Banks, office, and stores are located in central Suva.）。

飞枝的警察若跑到台湾来，一定被台湾的警察抓起来，罪名是“有伤风化”（harmful to public morals）——因为飞枝的警察穿裙子，这种裙子叫sulu，裙子很瘦，下面是锯齿（teeth of a saw）状的，怪里怪气，台湾的警察一看一定大生气特生气，于是就抓起来了。

所以大概飞枝警察不敢到台湾来。

飞枝的男人也有裙子穿，这种裙子叫tapa skirts，比较短上面有花。他们当然也“有伤风化”，所以也不敢到台湾来。

现代的飞枝人虽然怕台湾警察，胆子很小，但他们以前胆子可不小，他们是吃人肉的（cannibals——A human being that eats human flesh吃人肉的人；by extension, any animal that eats its own kind，广义来说，吃同类的动物），还是猎头的（head-hunters. head-hunting, n. The custom, characteristic esp. of heathen Malayan peoples, of decapitating enemies and preserving their heads as trophies. 奉异教的马来民族所特有的斩敌人头留作战胜纪念品的习俗）。

世界上土人有的吃人肉不猎头，有的猎头不吃人肉，飞枝的土人两样全来，真凶来兮（兮，an adjunct with no independent meaning，roughly equivalent to “Oh”or“Ah” in English．）。

以前台湾的土人，除兰屿的雅美族以外，都猎头，不吃肉。他们猎到一个最有名的头就是吴凤的（吴凤，Wu Feng, an official who, when head hunting was still common among the aborigines of Taiwan, ended the practice at the cost of his own life in 1768.）。

这样看来，台湾的警察大概也不敢到飞枝去，因为搞不好，飞枝人发起疯来，野蛮复兴，两样来一样，台湾的警察都吃不消（cannot stand or bear；too much to take or endure）。

Fijians once were cannibals and head-hunters, Most of them are now Christians, but they still observe local customs. They make outrigger canoes from hollowed logs. They also manufacture pottery and personal ornaments of shell, bone, and boars tusks. A small clan living near Viti Levu still practices the ancient custom of fire walking. Performers do not walk on fire, but on hot stones. Fijians drink kava（yanggona in Fijian）, a strong but non-in toxicating drink made from the root of a pepper plant. The drink partially numbs the tongue and lips. Fijians use it as part of most ceremonies. They celebrate every occasion with dancing.

Most Fijians grow crops or catch fish for a living, but many work for the Europeans as clerks, carpenters, and police. People of Indian descent grow most of the islands sugarcane, and they also keep dairy cattle. Miners take gold, copper, and iron from the rocks of the lager island. The Fiji Island produce coconuts, sugar, gold, timber, and tobacco. They ship tropical fruits to Australia and New Zealand. Most eastern Fiji Islands are volcanic. They only industry there is making copra（dried coconut meat）.

爸 爸

一九七五年九月七日

[后记]这封信中所引有关吴凤的英文解说，自然是从“神话”立论的。事实上，吴凤是因背约、骂人、与曹族格斗下被杀的。详见连横《吴凤列传》。