THE RE WA. LE T FIJI FL URISH. 2 1 1 



at a very small outlay. There are at present under cultiva- 

 tion about 100 acres, 80 acres of which are now producing 

 sugar-cane of a very superior character, and the remainder is 

 employed in the cultivation of tobacco, tapioca, maize, yams, 

 and sweet potatoes. The sugar industry is at a complete stand- 

 still for want of the proper machinery.' 



There is no place on earth of which it can be more truth- 

 fully said, ' If you tickle it with a hoe, it will laugh with a 

 harvest,' than Fiji. The colony smiles most encouragingly, in 

 spite of past neglect and the comparative poverty of its 

 settlers. What it will do when benefited by some of the 

 hoarded wealth of these islands, Mr. Home, of the Mauritius, 

 has told us. That gentleman is no sanguine dreamer, and 

 an annual export return of ten millions sterling is the only 

 estimate we can anticipate of the Fiji of the future, when her 

 powers of production have been fully developed. 



Fiji, now that her tide has turned, has, I firmly believe, an 

 era of unparalleled prosperity opening before her ; and though 

 I have no doubt on this subject, I have done my utmost to 

 keep within the limits of hard facts, while with all sincerity I 

 adapt the Glasgow motto to the colony ' Let Fiji flourish.' 



CHAPTER XXV. 



THE S AMD AN OR NAVIGATORS' ISLANDS. 



SOME 630 miles to the north-east of Levuka is the Samoan or 

 Navigators' Group of islands, second only in importance to the 

 Fiji Archipelago in the whole of Western Polynesia. Except 

 by occasional Avar-ships, there is no steam communication 

 between Levuka and Samoa, so one has to content one's self 



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