1 64 THE CORAL LANDS OF THE PACIFIC. 



are wanted even less than the ' horny-handed son of toil,' and 

 that is the commercial clerk whose sole recommendations are 

 that he has an irreproachable character, wears in England the 

 universal black coat, and can read, write and cipher with 

 dexterity. The commercial clerk, unless fitted by nature for 

 something very different, is a drug in most markets : he is a 

 nuisance in Fiji. What that colony requires is a steady influx 

 of clear-sighted men, not opposed to work, not obdurate where 

 learning is concerned men who have at command the sum of 

 at least some three or four hundred pounds, and who are 

 willing to learn, work, and wait. Of course it would be better 

 if the capital were larger; but the true well-wisher of Fiji 

 would not look so closely to the balance in the bank-book as to 

 the character of the man in whose possession it is. I am in- 

 clined to think that there is no colony of the British Empire 

 where a young man, coupling a reasonable amount of brains 

 with a moderate capital, can so easily secure a competence as 

 in Fiji. Of course hard work, steady perseverance, undaunted 

 courage, and firm hope, must be the leading features of intend- 

 ing emigrants. If they have not these qualities coupled, I 

 may add, with the needful cash they had better stay away. 

 Neither in New Zealand nor Fiji are fortunes to be picked 

 up by those who, like many leaving the port of London, seem 

 to think that a millionnaire is to be made by the loan of a 

 spade; and, as I am writing about a new member of that 

 earth-hungry institution, the British Empire, I feel it incum- 

 bent on me to say very plainly what class of emigrants it 

 wants. 



There are several ways of reaching the group. The mail 

 routes are those of the Peninsular and Oriental Company via 

 Suez to Sydney, and the Pacific Mail Company's line from San 

 Francisco to Auckland, and thence by steamer to Levuka. 



