CHAPTER X. 



THE FIJI ISLANDS. 



HIS large archipelago of the south equatorial zone is not even officially 

 designated by the name given to it by the inhabitants themselves. 

 The term Fiji is simply a Tonga mispronunciation of the native 

 word Yiti, these islands having thus lost the very right to name 

 themselves, while entering by a constitutional fiction into the num- 

 ber of the independent Australasiao states. In point of fact Fiji is a simple 

 political possession of Australasia, belonging to a limited number of planters, who 

 cultivate their lands by coolie labour introduced from the surrounding islands and 

 even from India, while the natives themselves perish in the villages of the interior. 

 Yet the archipelago occupies a considerable area, and is so favoured by a fertile 

 soil and genial climate that it might easily support a population of two millions. 



Tasman first discovered the eastern part of the group, which he named in a 

 general way "Prince Willem Islands." In 1774 Cook merely sighted Turtle 

 (Yatoa) Island, and in 1789 the Fiji waters were traversed by Bligh, when, 

 abandoned by most of his crew and perishing of hunger and thirst, he made his 

 way to the Eastern Archipelago. Fiji was again visited in 1797 by Wilson, after 

 which time numerous trading vessels opened relations with the natives, chiefly for 

 the purchase of trepang and sandalwood. But the scientific exploration was not 

 begun till 1827 with Dumont d'Urville's first expedition ; in 1838 the same 

 navigator resumed the survey of the archipelago, which was continued in 1840 by 

 the American Wilkes, accompanied by Dana and other men of science.' Then 

 came the missionaries and isolated travellers, and Fiji was one of the best known 

 oceanic groups when it was annexed to the British colonial empire in 1874. The 

 hydrographie survey of the coasts, begun by Dumont d'Urville and Wilkes and 

 extended by Denham and Hosken, was completed in all its details by Moore, who, 

 during his three years' expedition, coasted every part of the group. 



The chief island, Yiti-Levu, that is, "Great Yiti," is of oval form, its main axis 

 being disposed in the direction from west to east. Yiti-Levu, one of the largest 

 islands in equatorial Polynesia, is entirely mountainous, with densely wooded 

 extinct volcanoes 4,000 and even 5,000 feet high. The argillaceous soil, of a 

 yellow or dull red colour, consists of decomposed scoriae, which are extremely 

 productive wherever exposed to a copious rainfall. The plains themselves are 



