Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1880-10-22
COOLIES AND COCOANUTs IN FIJI.
How the Nuts Are Picked. Packed
and Exported. and the Uses TO Which
They Are Put.

! IHtl Are
Chief Justice Gorrie in Contemporary Review.
Our sojourn ON the island for the
next ten days, however far more than
compensated for the trouble. The
mouse is finely situated, on spur over
looking the bold hills of Nanua Lew.
The long ndu point closes in the view
toward the north, making the part of
the sea visible appear one great lake.
and all around us and up the slopes of
the hills and ut our feet in the plain
the young cocoanuts are waving. Let
lis go down to the beach to visit the
machinery houses, and thus get an idea
OF the work upon an estate of this de-
scriptlon. These vast heaps of cocoa
nuts are gathered from all parts of the
island, which has a circumference of
about thirty miles, and, after the ker-
mel has been extracted and dried on the
long tables or in the steam driving
house, which is the more improved
method it is packed in bags for trans
port by the inter-inland steamers to
Levuka orby some of the small craft
which the merchants employ to collect
their cargoes. The price in the island
is about tl4 per ton But after the
kelnal has been disposed of the husk is
attacked, and by means Of various ma
chimes popularity called devils" it is
torn into the fibre of which it is com
posed and cleaned of its dust (which
is Il valuable compost) and turned into
brushes or treated as fibre to be packed
/ into bales for export. All of the labor.
ers who attend to these machines are
Polyneslans, many of them on Rambi
being the wild looking Tokalans from
the Gilbert and Marshall Let us watch
| for moment the two who are from
New Hebrides turning the screw-press
| by which the fibre is compressed into
bales One of them is astlryivor of the
Carl massacre, who refused to 90 home
when one of her maesty's ships came
to repatriatc the remnant who escaped.
Three of them felt they had enough of
the sea and its incidents. and perferred
to remain where they were. They are
naked black giants. and as they throw
their force to the handle of the screw.
apstan-fashion, their muscles stand
out, and the whole frame is model of
| Herculean power. The storehouse j.
full of bales ready for the steamer by
which We expect 10 leave, and these
find market i'll Sydney, while the
bristles 90 to England We pass along
| by the laborers' houses and there we
find the familiar coolies, and hear again
the "Salaam, Sahib," often heard when
| sojourned in Mauritius. Mr.. Hill is the
only proprietor yet who has had the
good sense to take up about one hun
dred of the first shipload Of Indian i'm
migrants. They live quite friendly
side by side with the Polynesians, whom
they term lnglais." A curious traffic
has arisen between them. the Polyne-
slams going out to the woods to hunt
the wild pigs, which they sell to the In
dams, who get much better wages than
themselves, for dollar pig; and on
the bread-fruit, which grows in profu-
sion, and other extras the coolies are
becoming fat and sleek. Passing on
we got INTO a cocoa-nut grove, which
stretches long distance along the
coast the lap Of the full tide coming up
to the very roots of the first line Of
trees. On some of the trees the nuts
are SO thick Us to defy computation
being indeed top crowded for growth
AS many as three hundred have been
counted on one tree, but this is only
when they are rs small Us apples, for
| they fall abundantly in the struggle of
the ittest to survive Still further along
the coast we come to other flats and
valleys which are also being cleared out
for planting with cocoanuts or cotton,
and it is easy to perceive that the ex-
ports from this one island alone will
~ not many years, equal the exports
| from the whole colony when | arrived
On one occasion, when the ladies went
by boat on picnic to locality called
Georgia, where the proprietor has an
other house, | walked with Mr.. Hunt
cr, the chief police magistrate of Levi
ka, along the coast a distance which
was stated to be six miles, but which in
the heat of the day, without breath
| of wind III the woods, took to be
double the distance. The immense
yatu trees were shedding their long tas-
sells Of pink and white flowers which
filled the whole air with delicate per
fume. The path passed through tim
Der which from its majestic growth
showed tho richness of the soil and on
our return in the evening by sea we
had good opportunity Of viewing the
finely wooded hills, which. even in the
days when Commodore Wilkes made
his survey Of the group, caused Ramb
70 be distinguished among the islands
| The TinOnee, the successor Of the PrCt-
ty Jane, and steamer more worthy OF
the colony arrived I'LL too soon to
cut short our expeditions in search of
wood pigeons and wild pigs, and our
struggles at lawn tennis when the sun
was dipping behind the mountains Of
Nanua Lavu She was filled up with
cotton and copra from tho Windward
with bales Of fibre from Uudu point
and when she had taken in the Ram
Iii hales, with some hundreds Of bag
of copra from Yuma point, rayiuni, she
sailed for Leyuka, via Sayu-savu bay.
bearing u homeward to Ovalau, which.
after Ill, can hold its own in lovelines>
with any island in the group.
My yarn is spun, and will have ac-
eomplished what | intended if it ere
atcs some greater interest III the colo