FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 109 
work of the missionaries on the other. The Colonial Government 
interferes as little as possible with aboriginal customs and habits 
and controls their excesses with a kindly firmness. The Fijians 
are allowed to have a hand in local government and some of them 
hold offices of real power; Ratu Popé, for instance, being a mem- 
ber of the Executive Council of Fiji. 
In reading the accounts of returning travelers one finds a pro- 
nounced tendency to criticize the missionaries. The Colonial 
authorities, who certainly know the situation, admire and codperate 
with the various missions, be they Methodist, Roman Catholic or 
of any denomination that is earnestly seeking to help the natives. 
My own visit to the Wesleyan Mission, already described, con- 
vinced me that these influences are all for the good of the people 
among whom and for whom they work. 
We found that life in Fiji was reduced to the simplest possible 
terms, in sharp contrast to the amazing complexity of our modern 
civilization. Here indeed is the real ‘‘simple life’’ in its nearly 
perfect expression. The Fijians are criticised because they are 
disinclined to work, or at least to work continuously. But why 
should they work? The expense of maintaining an ordinary Fiji- 
an family in the simple comfort to which it is accustomed is re- 
duced almost to the vanishing point and the Fijian’s family 
budget worries him but little. His bill for clothing is next to noth- 
ing, as his garment when at home and not expecting visitors, is 
the sulu, which answers every purpose of decency. Protection 
from heat or cold is not necessary in that climate. On Sunday 
the men in the more civilized parts of the islands put on a cheap 
cotton shirt and the women a sort of one-piece garment much like 
what we used to call a ‘‘mother hubbard’’ reaching from neck to 
ankles and without frills or furbelows of any kind. Indeed its 
disadvantage is its homeliness. I heard no mention of underwear 
for either men or women, and doubt if it exists in Fiji. So the 
tailor’s, shoemaker’s, milliner’s and dress maker’s bills are of in- 
significant proportions. 
The family residence involves almost no expenditure at all. The 
Fijian cuts the poles for the frame from the trees standing in the 
adjacent forest. The reeds used for the inside of the walls are 
from the same place, as is the sennit with which he binds them 
together. The roof is of thatch and the outside walls are covered 
with imbricating leaves. There are no partitions in the one-room 
house, the floor is of hard packed earth raised a couple of feet 
