FIJIAN HONESTY. 47 
been left in an open shed, and in boxes that could not 
be locked every time they had to be opened; yet I did 
not lose a single article, though the hatchets, knives, 
and cotton prints must have been invaluable in the eyes 
of the natives. On the whole, the Fijians confirm Cap- 
tain Cook’s opinion, according to which the light- 
coloured Polynesians have thievish propensities, the 
dark-coloured not. The Tannese, a dark-coloured race, 
he must either have looked upon as an exception to his 
rule, or else they must not have been in those days the 
set of expert thieves they are at present. 
The extreme fertility of the soil about Somosomo in- 
duced me to establish there an experimental cotton plan- 
tation; and before fairly embarking on board the ‘ Paul 
Jones’ for Ovalau, I must insert a short chapter on 
cotton, which those who think it a subject no amount 
of literary skill can make attractive, may skip without 
losing the thread of the general narrative. 
