i2o Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



And the export continues to rise steadily. 

 Placing the production of the plantations at 

 2,500 tons, there remains for the native hold- 

 ings the respectable amount of 4,700 tons. 

 This must be accounted a very fine result 

 taking into consideration the indolent nature 

 of the natives, the striking preponderance of 

 whose cultivations over those of the Europeans 

 is very evident, and gives a fine testimonial of 

 the intelligence and high level of culture of 

 the Polynesians. We mark quite the reverse 

 in New Guinea ; here, although the number of 

 palms in the hands of the natives is by no 

 means less than in Samoa, the lower type of 

 native does not produce from them one-half 

 the quantity of copra that is obtained by the 

 Samoans. On the other hand, the coco-nut 

 plantations of the whites in German New 

 Guinea are of far larger extent, and already 

 contain over a million trees, of which the New 

 Guinea Company alone owns 600,000. The 

 present rather low export from this centre is 

 due to the comparatively young age of the trees. 

 In Samoa the coco-nut palm represents the 

 real tangible estate of the natives, in the same 

 degree as does the oil-palm in West Africa 

 and the date-palm in North Africa. It is 

 essentially the best tree for native cultures. 

 The far-sighted Governor of Samoa has recog- 

 nized this fact, and. for several years there has 

 been in force an ordinance which compels every 

 Samoan to annually plant not less than fifty 



