The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-15 00:00:00

ROYAL GEOGI.APIIICdI SOCIETY.

The ordinary meeting of the umbers of this
society was held yesterday at theirrooms, Burling-
ton House—the Right Hon. LordAshburton, the
piesident, in the chair.
The minutes of the previous =ding were read
read and confirmed.

The first paper read was by Dr Buchanan, " On
the Country, Climate, and Commercial Resources of
the Fiji Islands." The group of slands were only
a few hundred miles from Austraia, and had a cli-
mate so beautiful that no travella would wish to go
further. During the day the rade winds miti-
gated the heat, while the eveniigs were cool and
calm, affording the most invitiig opportunity for
conversation and reflection. 'The natives of these
islands were represented as clael and barbarous,
but he was not able to corroboute those accounts.
They were said to be cannibals and Mr. Williams
asserted that as many as 50 bodes were cooked and
eaten at one time, although the animal food of the
islands was sufficient to feed tei times the number
of inhabitants that were there. They were super-
stitious, and paid great?,revepnce to certain por-
tions of the stone or article tf which their idols
were composed. Their export were cocoa-nut oil,
of which from 150 to 200 ton; were produced an-
nually. Another article was the beach le mere, a
kind of dried sea snail, which vas considered a very
great delicacy in China. Th,y also exported tor-
toiseshell and pearl shell, the atter of which might
be increased, if there were better divers from other
countries, for the natives were not good divers. As
they were planting trees of all kinds he had no
doubt that, in a few years, the export of timber
would be extensive, and the produce of cocoanut-oil
at least 1,000 tons annually. Those islands were
well adapted to growing cotton in a manner that
would well pay the cultivator, for various reasons :
it must be grown near the sea shore, the labour was
cheaper than coolie labour, Ind the cotton grown
was the finest that could be produced. The plant
grew from four to seven feet high, full of flower
and pods, and Dr. Seeman had brought away
a crop from his own planting
in six months
after his landing there. The produce was as much
as 8001 b. to the acre, which was more than the
average of South Carolina and Georgia. The
islands were 180 in number, and the whole of them
were exposed to the trade wiads blowing from the
south-east. He concluded by giving a most delight-
ful description of the country as suited to him who
loved a quiet and retired life, who could drink his
tea without his newspaper, and be content without
news of wars or the excitement of a defeat of a
ministry. (Laughter.)
Dr. Seeman then read a paper which gave a more
detailed account of these islands, particularly the
attempt that has been made by the natives to place
them under the dominion of the British Crown.

The Chairman said that her Majesty's con-
sul, Mr. Pritchard, was the man who had induced
the chiefs of the Fiji Islands to place themselves
under the protection of the British Crown. He was
present and would give them some information on
those islands.

Mr. Pritchard said he had spent rather more than
half his life in or near the Fiji Islands, and had
in imagination been that night carried back to
those gems of the ocean. The position of these
islands was most important, both commercially and
politically. The French had taken possession of
Tahiti and New Caledonia, and if England declined
to take possession of this group of islands, then
France would seize upon them and would com-
plete a chain round Australia, so that, in the
event of a war we could not carry on trade with
that colony. In a commercial point of view
it was very important to have those islands. There
was excellent shelter for ships and anchorage, and
the harbours were extensive and numerous. It was
necessary usually to plant cotton seed annually,
and it bore but one crop, but in the Fiji Islands it
only required one planting in order to obtain a
crop for from ten to fifteen years consecutively,
so that the labour would become very light. If
England were to take possession of that group, it
would afford return cargoes to our ships in coming
home from Australia. There were many
English
merchants anxiously waiting now the decision of
the Government.
After some remarks from Count Streziecki,

Mr. Crawford gave some very interesting idol'
!nation Oil those people, but differed fron► all the
gentlemen who had preceded him as to many par-
ticulars they had stated to the meeting.