MANGO AND MANGO COTTON. 205 



a powerful steam-engine, and these give about 1 Ib. of clean 

 cotton to 4 of seed cotton, or as the bales weigh about 400 Ik, 

 half a bale of clean cotton to the acre annually : the return from 

 the estate for the year ending September, 1879, being just 350 

 bales of clean Sea Island cotton. 



Notwithstanding the wonderful success indicated by these 

 figures, the company does not confine itself to their Gold- 

 Medal cotton. Some 700 acres of the island are devoted to 

 coffee-planting, there being now 150 acres of superior coffee 

 coming into bearing. Altogether there are 1100 acres under 

 cultivation in Mango, as a good deal of space is reserved for 

 a crop of maize ; and there are also plantations of bread-fruit, 

 bananas, and other food for ' labour,' while the careful cultiva- 

 tion of limes is another marked feature of Mango. 



Sheep and cattle thrive well on the island, and since I was 

 in Fiji, Angora goats have been introduced, of which there is 

 a flock of more than 300, so that a good export of Mango hair 

 ma}- be looked for. Groats' hair does not exhaust the products 

 of well-cared-for Mango : the vast amphitheatre of the interior 

 is studded with cocoa-nuts, which at present yield some 120 

 tons of copra per annum, and should furnish an equivalent 

 quantity of fibre. The seed of the Sea Island cotton is also 

 exported by the Mango Island Company in common with other 

 cotton settlers. For the introduction of this small branch of 

 Pacific exports I take some little credit, as it was formerly 

 entirely wasted. In Mincing Lane, as I have said, it fetches 

 from 7 to 9 a ton. What becomes of it after it reaches my 

 broker friends I do not knoAV exactly, but I have heard that 

 its product returns to Fiji as the ' finest Lucca oil' 



Mango is splendidly watered, and its scenery is perfect, even 

 for Fiji. The almost land-locked lagoon is one of the gems of 

 Coral Lands. 



