A VERY SUGGESTIVE CHAPTER. 141 



annual value of the agricultural exports of the colony, when 

 , its powers of production have been fully developed, will pro- 

 bably exceed ten millions sterling.' 



These are weighty words, coming from the Governor of a 

 Crown Colony of Great Britain. 



Of the agricultural wealth of Fiji, and in fact of Polynesia 

 generally, it is impossible to speak too highly. Cotton, the 

 cocoa-nut tree, candle-nuts (Aleurites triloba), cinnamon bark, 

 turmeric, croton plant, tapioca, twenty-five varieties of plan- 

 tains, yams, taro, limes, shaddocks, oranges, pine-apples, 

 lemons, bananas, ginger, nutmegs, annatto, sugar-cane, all 

 grow wild ; india-rubber is found all over the island of Vanua 

 Levu. By some, great importance has been attached to the 

 dye barks, while Fiji timber has found a home in the large 

 pianoforte manufactory of Messrs. Jno. Brinsmead & Sons. 



The tabulated statements of exports in the Appendix speak 

 for themselves, but they also demonstrate that the trade of 

 Fiji is entirely in its infancy. In 1880 the imports of the 

 group amounted to 185,740, as against 142,000 in 1879, 

 while the exports had attained the respectable total value 

 of 229,902. The most significant advance of late has 

 been in sugar. From a value of 3245, it has risen to 

 20,920 in 1880; while again 7265 tons of copra were ex- 

 ported in 1880, as against 4089 tons in 1879. The principal 

 items of import are drapery, hardware, and machinery. 



Fiji is mostly known to the world by the superior quality 

 of her ' sea island cotton,' which gained gold medals at Phila- 

 delphia in 1876, and at Paris in 1878 ; but, owing to the com- 

 paratively low prices ruling now in the English markets, a 

 great number of the planters have entirely discontinued its 

 cultivation. Perhaps the best houses who still adhere to 

 cotton-planting are the Messrs. Ryder, of Mango; Messrs. 



