118 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
tically all British and much like those found wherever the British 
flag waves. They struck us as men who knew their business, or 
profession and understood how to deal with visiting strangers. It 
may be that, representing as we did a friendly nation and an 
American University, they were inclined to favor us more than 
they would unofficial visitors. But they did seem to fully appre- 
ciate our scientific objectives and doubtless were entirely aware of 
the possible publicity value of our visit to Fiji. However this 
may be, the colonial officials left nothing undone to further our 
plans and insure the success of our visit. Of course I was better 
acquainted with Colonial Secretary Fell than with any of the 
others. It was perfectly evident that he had a sincere admiration 
for the Fijians and he repeatedly expressed himself as being ex- 
tremely fond of them. This attitude I have found to be quite 
common in all the colonial dependencies of Great Britain which 
I have visited. Officials do try to get the point of view of the 
natives over whom they rule with a sort of paternalistic despotism 
that may be mistaken at times, but is sincere and honest in the 
main; and very generally benevolent and well-meaning in spite of 
the unrest which seems so prevalent in the world to-day. 
Of course colonial administration is often confronted with prob- 
lems that are perplexing in the extreme. In Fiji the labor ques- 
tion seems to have been the hardest one to solve.? The responsibil- 
ity of introducing Indian laborers lies mainly with the sugar plant- 
ers, who represent by far the most important industry in Fiji. 
The planters were confronted by the fact that the Fijian natives 
would not work with any degree of constancy. European labor 
was out of the question as the cost was prohibitive on the one 
hand, and white laborers are ill-fitted to withstand the climate. 
Hence it was perfectly natural for the planters to turn to the 
millions of Indians for an adequate and constant supply of man- 
power without. which their plantations would inevitably have 
failed. 
Under these conditions it was natural to resort to the indenture 
or ‘‘recruiting system.’’ This was completely under government 
control, the official agents in India procuring the recruits and send- 
ing them on, after careful investigation, to Fiji at the sole expense 
of the employing companies, who provided food, clothing and 
transportation. Under the terms of the contract the Indians were 
 2The information embodied in this discussion is taken almost exclusively 
from the work already referred to, ‘‘ Fiji, its Problems and Resources,’’ by 
Major W. A. Chappel, 1921. 
