3/o Coco-nuts The Consols of the East 



an almost perfect product, even when prepared 

 in bulk, and almost wholly free from deleterious 

 substances, which therefore rightly commands 

 the keenest competition and the highest prices. 

 Going to the other extreme, the South Seas 

 and part of the Moluccas produce the worst 

 and lowest priced article. This is mainly due 

 to the preponderance of careless native pre- 

 paration in those parts (the same as with cacao 

 planters on the West Coast of Africa, in Haiti, 

 San Domingo, &c.) ; but the time is fast 

 zoming, as the white man spreads his interest 

 'ind holdings over those far removed regions, 

 for all these drawbacks now existing to be 

 eliminated and gradually disappear. 



Although the good old days of "trading" on 

 the quarter-deck, with identities and terrors 

 like strenuous " Bully Hayes," " Yankee 

 Ned," and " Dirty Dick Johnson," have gone 

 never to return, there is still a good deal of 

 inter-island trade by means of schooners and 

 other small craft afloat. In the old buccaneer- 

 ing times referred to, when the trader hove in 

 sight, it meant either copra or muskets to the 

 hapless Aborigines ; the quality was not of so 

 much account as the quantity to be taken 

 to the shipping centres. Nowadays, all, or 

 nearly all, these " persuasions " have disap- 

 peared, as the market for one thing demands 

 a better product, and the various Governments 

 concerned keep a sharp eye on all over- riding 

 and harsh delinquencies, which are invariably 

 visited with dire penalties. 



