50 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
licity for Fiji, and he expressed himself as pleased at our advent. 
Our commissary department functioned in a satisfactory man- 
ner, Mrs. Stoner sending out supplies from Suva every five days. 
Our Fijians speared edible fish occasionally, the best of which were 
some flounders, and Mr. Sadler brought a few fish, a chicken and 
some lemons from Nukulau. He has had many weird adventures 
in the South seas, is very fluent in their narration and evidently 
enjoyed an opportunity to talk with members of our party. His 
life on Nukulau, where he is keeper of the quarantine station for 
natives and Indians, is doubtless a lonely one, although relieved, 
so we were told, by a succession of no less than eight Polynesian 
women who took charge of his domestic affairs for periods of un- 
certain length. At the time of our stay he was temporarily a 
‘‘widow,’’ as he expressed it. 
Mr. Sadler had no great love for the Fijian and still less for 
the Indian; he felt much aggrieved at the latter for his refusal 
to work while in quarantine. He said that when an Indian made 
up his mind to die nothing could prevent his doing so. On one 
occasion a Hindu felt aggrieved because the Colonial Government 
refused to allow him to keep two wives, insisting that he dispose 
of one. He calmly wrapped his blanket around his head, sat down 
in about three feet of water and succeeded in drowning himself. 
If this narrative is true, we have here an astonishing case of al- 
most superhuman self-control and an evidence of strength of will 
that would be hard to surpass. 
Dr. and Mrs. Stoner were the last ones to work with me on 
Makuluva, and I was glad of it, for the last days were occupied 
largely in packing our collections and equipment in which Stoner 
is an experienced and capable man. The reef work was poor dur- 
ing their stay on account of unfavorable tides, but he found plenty 
to do with the birds and insects of our little island. 
We packed the corals first; they were easy enough to collect in 
any desired quantity almost at our very door. We had brought 
ashore a number of beautiful museum specimens and placed them 
to dry on a wooden platform near the beach. Many of them were 
extremely delicate branching forms, brittle as glass, and we al- 
most despaired of packing them so that they would withstand 
transportation on the long voyage from Fiji to Iowa. Alfred 
made baskets of palm leaves in which they were carried to the 
