KANDAVU. 183 



fancy. There is no limit to tliese demands : a house, a boat, 

 a new dress, even the food that a man has prepared for his 

 family, is liable to be taken from him by any one his equal 

 or superior ; for it is considered disgraceful to refuse a request 

 made in this manner, and for tlie lower classes who have so 

 many superiors it is useless, it is said, to attempt to acquire 

 anything. 



If they require anything from the white traders, as for in- 

 stance a waist-cloth, a knife, or a musket, they make cocoa- 

 nut oil for the price asked. Notwithstanding the natural fer- 

 tility of their lands, the people suffer severely from scarcity 

 of food whenever the hurricanes injure their breadfruit trees. 

 Pigs and foAvls are by no means plentiful, and the lower 

 orders seldom eat any animal food ; the general custom is to 

 collect together for a periodical feast all the surplus provisions 

 in the district, when one-half is eaten and the other utterly 

 wasted. Whenever usual food fails them, the natives support 

 themselves on wild yams, wild beans, arrowroot, Tahiti 

 chestnut, and the fruit of the mangrove. 



The climate is healthy. The thermometer ranges during 

 the year fi'om 63° to 100° Fahr., the hottest months being 

 January and February, the coldest June and July. Dysen- 

 tery is the only prevalent disease. Notwithstanding the good 

 climate, the population has not increased of late ; if it has 

 decreased, it is in an imperceptible degree. Various reasons 

 are assigned for the depopulation of the South Sea Islands, 

 which appears to liave been simultaneous with the arrival 

 of the Whites ; but it is doubtful whether it should be attri- 



