188 TEE CRUISE OF THE ' CUBAQOA: 



the cotton-grower of Fiji to compete successfully witli any 

 other in the market of Europe, as the quaUty of libre that 

 can be produced here is considered by competent judges to 

 be equal to any that can be supplied by the Southern States 

 of America. The high charges for freight to Sydney are 

 the most serious drawback that the island traffic suffers for 

 cotton. In the badly-pressed state in which it leaves Fiji, 

 the freight is £9 per ton. Until the quantity of cotton ex- 

 ported shall be sufficiently great to allow of a direct trade with 

 Europe, there is no probability of any reduction in the charges. 

 The supply of cocoa-nut oil will continue to increase for 

 some years to come, if the demand is as brisk as heretofore. 

 A thousand tons could be furnished by this group alone. 

 To the natives it can hardly prove a 2^1'ofitable article, as 

 their process of manufacture is tedious and laborious. 

 Machinery has been employed to extract the oil, but the 

 result was not so j^rofitable as was generally expected by 

 the introducers, who fi-equently found their labours brought 

 to a standstill by the refusal of the natives to supply them 

 Avith nuts in sufficient quantity, as they looked with jealousy 

 on an undertaking that threatened to deprive them of tlie 

 means of purchasing cloth, knives, &c., from the traders, in- 

 asmuch as the oil that each could personally make was the 

 only article of barter he possessed. Whenever the cultiva- 

 tion of cotton shall give them a better return for their 

 labour than oil-making, they will of course have no further 

 objection to supplying the oil-mill with any quantity of 

 nuts they may require. 



