The Hawaiian gazette., 1885-04-22
FEEJEE AND SAMOA.
An American Consul. Statement,

San Francisco on Tuesday March 24th, on
the City cf Sy8Hey, was interviewed by
Cknpsiels reporter on thepolitical, business
and social condition Of the Feejee islands
and their inhabitants.
You will be astonished,r said Mr. Van
Camp, in answer TO the reporters queries,
when l tell You that there are Do islands
in the group, some of which are very
large, Viii Lew big island has an area
of 1000 square miles. and through por
ton OF 1t flows the river Rivi, which ex
tends from the seacoast $50 miles into the
interior, and upon both sides Of which lie
magnificent fields, suitable for sugar plan
tations. Wanna Lew is the next largest
island, and the third Of the group is Tav-
iani, which is, indeed, beautiful place.
On this island tea and sugar are raised l
have some of the tea with me, and the con
noisseurs who have inspected it say that
IN their judgment it is better than any
other ever produced. On Mango island
large sums have been invested in sugar
mills and plantations, which belong to
Sydney firm. The plantations are not as
profitable as formerly, on account Of the
difficulty and expense Of obtaining labor
Coolies have to be imported, as the natives
are not allowed by their rokos, or chiefs.
to work on these plantations.
There are about 100 whites on the
islands, whose principal residence was for
merly the town of Levuka, on the island
OF Oyalau. The missionary societies, how
ever, had possession Of most of the yalua
bic land on this island and refused to sell
any Of 1t 10 Sir Arthur Gordon, the first
Governor OF the group, and so he removed
the seat OF Government, which up 10 that
time had been at Levuka, to Suya, on Viii
LeTu, about sixty miles from Levuka.
Suya now has population Of about 500
whites and Leyuka of about 400. The
foreign population is mostly English, but
few Americans having settled there. The
native population is about $4,000. All
the Government offices are at Suya and
most OF the business houses at Leyuka.
The islands export sugar, copra (dried
eocoanutl, maize, peanuts and tropical
fruits There are monthly steamers to
Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland. The
latter bring the mails. Suva is six DAYS
by steamer from Auckland. eight DAYS
from Sydney and ten to twelve days from
Melbourne
ESsLAyEp NATIVES
What Is the condition OF the natives -
At present the natives are slaves, both
body and soul, to their chiefs, who. in the
order OF their rank, are called Tuis. Ratus
and Rokos. These chiefs control all the
people with rod OF iron, and the British
Government, which virtually owns the
Islands, encourages the chiefs in keeping
the natives in subsection. Why, the com
mon people are not allowed by the chiefs
to go from one town to another, being
kept at home at work. Neither can they
own any land, all except that held by the
foreigners being owned by the chiefs
When old King Sakambau coded the isl
ands to Great Britain it was agreed that
he was TO receive a pension of 5000 a
year, his first son. Ratio Abu. a pension Of
t3OOO year, and his second son fl2OO a
year Now every native is taxed FL a year
to make up these amounts. They paw
their tax in labor or produce. There are
4O,OOO sble-bodied natives on VIII Lew
who would work well if only treated pro
perlyr
Are the natives Christiansin
Well, II they are, they pretty hard
Christians replied Mr. Van Camp: Tn
to ten or twelve years ago they were the
greatest cannibals in the world. Twelve
years ago they ate missionary named
Baker. l have his skull and bones in that
box over there. l brought them up As
eurios. They would be cannibals again
tomorrow, too, if they had an opportunity.
Even now You cannot 20 into the interior
with safety. The Government even for
bids people TO go into the mountains for
fear they will get baked and eaten. The
natives could undoubtedly be ruled much
better, and they viii have to be, or they
will rise on the chiefs as they did before
and cook them The natives are such
slaves that they are compelled to PROSTATE
themselves on the appearance of a chief.
L have seen 800 people throw themselves
on the ground at the appearance of old
SakAmbau, and remain prone until he had
passed All the clothes the natives wear
Is lOln cloth, and the Government en-
courages the chiefs in not introducing
civilized clothing. The women, though.
have some mOdesty, rs is shown by the
fact that only recently eight Of them were