218 Australian Life 



ment agent. The remuneration offered to the 

 labourers, though slight compared to the wages 

 required by white men to do the same work, was 

 nevertheless sufficient inducement to those who 

 engaged themselves, and in proof of the state- 

 ment that they were usually well treated may be 

 advanced the willingness shown by many of them 

 to engage for a second period. Those who re- 

 turned to their island homes usually laid out their 

 earnings in brightly coloured clothes and value- 

 less fancy goods, but after a few weeks of island 

 life, they were frequently very glad to return to 

 the plantations again. 



The work of cultivating the sugar-cane, from 

 the propagation of the young plants to the cutting 

 of the ripe cane for transport to the mills, neces- 

 sitates hard physical labour in a sweltering 

 climate. The man who would " trash" the cane 

 must stand hidden in a breathless cane-brake, 

 while he tears the dead and dying leaves from 

 the lower parts of the stalks. The oppressive 

 atmosphere is laden with minute particles of vege- 

 table fibre that choke the throat and penetrate 

 the lungs. This task, and the still heavier work 

 of cane-cutting, the Kanaka undertakes cheer- 

 fully. The women also work in the fields, hoeing 

 the ground and freeing it from the rank crop of 

 weeds that spring up so rapidly in the moist heat. 

 These people live in great wooden barracks, and 

 their staple foods are maize porridge, molasses, 

 and salt beef. Most of them are Christians, and 



