FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 49 
in our disreputable looking work clothes, Esile, the Fiji boy, an- 
nounced that the Governor’s launch was casting anchor near the 
landing. We had no chance at all to ‘‘slick up’’ and I went down 
to the shore to welcome His Excellency, Governor Rodwell, Com- 
missioner for the Mid Pacific possessions of Great Britain, Lady 
Rodwell and her children, Mrs. Pilling and some others, all in 
spick and span outing clothes. I must have made a sorry sight 
and found it difficult to do the honors as a representative of the 
United States and the University of Iowa. However, I stepped 
into the water and helped the ladies ashore while His Excellency 
came on the back of a Fiji boy. Another Fijian acting as aide 
to the Governor wore the native costume of a sulu plus a white 
shirt, and the characteristic bushy hair approved by his race. He 
was Ratu Sukuna, a native chief of high rank and an Oxford 
graduate. He spoke the English of a cultivated gentleman and 
had the manner of a highly educated and polished man. We were 
told he had been refused admission to the British army during 
the great war and had then enlisted in the Foreign Legion in 
France. He was then the official head of the Fijian Navy, we 
understood. Our man Alfred told me that every Fiji man, woman 
and child had contributed a shilling (no mean sum for them) to 
send Ratu Sukuna to Oxford, and that they were all immensely 
proud of him and wanted him to go back for graduate work! 
There is no doubt whatever about the loyalty of the Fijians to 
their hereditary chiefs, and this man belonged to the royal line 
of the old Fiji kings. Two or three generations ago they were 
all cannibals. 
I had a chat with Governor Rodwell on the veranda while the 
ladies and children went for a ‘‘bathe,’’ as they expressed it. Our 
little beach is about the only good sandy shore anywhere near 
Suva and is a very popular resort for European families who 
often come to spend a week-end or short vacation on this delight- 
ful little island. I am sure that we hardly realized what a hard- 
ship it was to these people to have Makuluva handed over to a 
party of strangers from far away Iowa, thus depriving the colo- 
nials of a favorite picnic ground. The Governor seemed interested 
in what we had to say of our University and in the book of 
photographs we had taken along. I doubt if His Excellency had 
so much as heard of the institution we represented before our 
correspondence with Secretary Fell began. He did appreciate, 
however, the fact that our visit was likely to result in good pub- 
