FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 145 
packed in small wooden boxes from which they are retailed in 
New Zealand. Strangely enough bananas seem difficult to buy in 
Suva. I found but one shop where they could be had with any 
regularity. Apparently they are used less freely there than in 
our own country. 
Sisal hemp, jute, cotton, tobacco, rubber, cocoa, pineapples, cof- 
fee, rice, limes, oranges, ete. are all capable of cultivation in 
these islands, but most of these are grown, if at all, only in an 
experimental way at the present time. Of course the natives 
make much of their taro, yams, cassava, and tobacco, but none of 
these enter into their exports, though all of them are important 
for domestic use. 
A week spent with Professor Nutting on Makuluva Island af- 
forded opportunity for the examination of coral reefs and what 
might be termed the strand vegetation of the shores. This tiny 
coral island is oval in outline, about 300 yards long and but 200 
yards in width, and is only a few feet above the high tide level. 
At low tide the shelving shore is laid bare for nearly half a mile 
out, on three sides, and one may walk across its level surface con- 
taining numerous interesting tide pools. At the outer edge are 
the masses of living corals and over them pounds the surf with 
ceaseless roar. These coral terraces have a number of species of 
alge, but the rocks are relatively bare and there were no large 
or conspicuous forms such as one finds in northern waters. The 
Corallines took high rank as regards relative numbers, and con- 
tribute to the formation of limestone, but formed no compact as- 
sociations. Considerable quantities of Sargassum were beached on 
the windward side. 
The shore was strewn with countless seeds, fruits, and plant 
fragments, and a little higher, above the shifting coral sand, I 
encountered numerous vines, chiefly legumes, some of these many 
yards in length, intermixed with grasses and younger trees. This 
association acts as a soil-binder as waves add to the land area. 
The palms, seemingly self-planted, were numerous, there being 
perhaps nearly a hundred of them on the island. A number of 
these were quite young, and in the sands were germinating seeds. 
The older palms were leaning quite uniformly to the northwest. 
Along the shore freshly buried fruits of cocoanuts contained seeds 
which were germinating. I noticed how careful the natives were 
not to disturb these potential palms. On one side of the island in 
