22 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
being delighted to be included as British 
subjects. And there can be but little doubt 
that in a few years, once assured of the good 
intentions of the English authorities to them, 
they will agree to lease out to traders and copra- 
buyers the long stretch of dense but narrow sea¬ 
girt coconut forests that form the southern 
boundary of the lagoon. At present, and, in¬ 
deed, for the past forty years, some millions of 
coconut palms are there allowed to fruiten and 
literally cover the ground with coconuts from 
year to year without the natives gathering more 
than will provide them with their few wants in 
the way of clothing, tobacco, etc., which they 
purchase from the one or two resident traders. 
Time after time have the people been approached 
by white agents of trading firms—notably in 
years past by Godeffroy’s of Hamburg—on the 
subject of leasing one particularly noble island, 
named Funafala, for the purpose of making the 
coconuts into copra. Liberal terms—and for a 
South Sea trading firm to offer liberal terms to 
natives shows the value of the concessions 
sought—were offered, but the Funafutans would 
have none of the white men on Funafala. A 
solitary trader or so they would tolerate in the 
