156 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
ures were increased by sharing them; many a problem was more 
lucid after a stimulating field discussion; burdens and difficulties 
were halved by codperation. 
Suva has well kept streets, there is road material a-plenty, and 
labor is cheap. For some miles out there are good metalled roads 
but beyond these is the bush. A drive out on the Tamavua road, 
now in the process of construction, illustrates the value of a good 
highway. Good grades are established, sharp turns are avoided, 
and an excellent road bed covered by a good surface metal is laid. 
In the vicinity of Suva a soft, shaly rock, locally called ‘‘soap- 
stone,’’ is the main underlying stone. It is not durable as surface 
metal hence the greatest problem is to secure hard rock that will 
stand traffic. Such a rock was found in the side of a deep valley 
which was located only after weeks of traversing the jungle by the 
engineer, Mr. Seeley. The rock he found is a hard bluish-black 
basalt occurring in typical, polygonal, basaltic columns below a 
reddish phase of the soapstone. The face of the rock metal quarry 
at time of our visit was sixty by seventy feet. The stone is lifted 
to the crusher by steam power over a sloping cable to a height of 
approximately three hundred feet at the side of the Tamavua 
road. We heard some criticism on account of the expense of lift- 
ing this rock but as a matter of fact the Public Works Depart- 
ment feels fortunate in having so good a quality of road metal in 
the soapstone district. From the planter’s point of view the ex- 
tension of metalled roads to the interior and finally to the north 
coast is of immediate importance in developing the island. From 
the standpoint of the natives opening up the bush will graduallv 
convert their extensive communal holdings into pasture and cane- 
ficld. Then, too, the white man’s ax will rapidly denude the 
forested areas unless rigid timber regulations are enacted. From 
another angle, road construction furnishes employment during 
slack seasons for the thousands of Hindus who live on freeholds 
in the vicinity of the plantations. The laborers on the Tamavua 
road work in gangs, by nationality. They are very picturesque in 
their distinctive costumes or in some eases almost lack of costume. 
Light-hearted Fijians in one gang, Samoans in another, Hindus of 
one caste next, then of another caste, darker and beturbaned. 
‘‘Salaam, sahib,’’ they greet as one passes. We wonder how such 
slight frail-looking men can handle the large blocks of stone in the 
hot sun. 
