Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-01-13

er's home, l was invited to come in
and join two or three gentlemen sit.
ting in comfortable chairs in the
shade, talking. smol1irs and drinking
kava- One of the party was the chief
justice of the islands, to whom l had
been introduced. They were all old
hands az the game. but on this coca
sion thought, for experimental pur-
I po es only, l would drink every time
II was passed around. could feel no
effect whatever. only could not 20 to
sleep that night for several hours af.
ter going to bed. AS a result, after that
| took only one bowl at a time.
Early to Rise.
Here. and ell ewbere among the is
lands. the natives are early Fisers.
What little work they do is in fun
swing by sunrise. During the heat of
the middle of the day, all repair TO
their houses Tor sleep. | fell into the
nabit of arising by sun up, putting
raincoat over my pajamaS and going
down to the wharf and enjoying a sIor-
ious swim in the warm, clear salt wa.
ter. On my way out of the hotel I took
from the table an orange and one
to three pineapple bananas, small but
delicious, eating them as / walked
along the shore. l had breakfast at 8
O'Clock aud always was ready to do
ample justice to it.
copra and Bananas.
Tho chief fpdncfrxy Of tbara ;uI
il gathering the ripe cocoanuts as they
fall, cutting up the meat and drying
it for two or three days on platforms
raised a few feet above the ground, in
the sun. 1t is then called copra (pro
nounced COBRA and sold to the trad
ers. When | was there the market
price was one shilling (25 cents) for
II pounds. The traders pack it in jute
bags each holding 1877 pounds, or II
bags to the long ton. 1t is then sent to
Sydney Australia, and from there to
all parts of the world and the oil ex-
tracted from it is used by soap fac
tories principally. The annual ship
mentS from these islands amounts TO
about $4,000 tons. | counted over 80
trees on piece of ground across the
street from the hotel, about the size
of two village lots. The gross return
from trees average 81 per year each.
but it takes seven to nine years be
fore they get into full bearing, after
which they bear for lifetime.
The next important industry is
growing bananas. Owing chiefly to the
the small size of the punches here,
they are picked off the stems, packed
in cases each weighing IS pounds and
sent every four weeks to Auckland,
New Zealand, by the regular steamer.
The month l was there the shipment
to 1000 cases. besides a con.
siderable quantity of punches. The
boat | arrived on brought 10000
bundles, each bundle containing the
material for two cases.
Bread Fruit.
The chief vegetable products of the
islands are bread-fruit, which grows
on tall trees with glossy, dark green
pinnated leaves over a foot long and |
pale green globes from six to eight |
inches in diameter on every bough |
The fruit IS rough OF rind, and very |
hard. 1t must be baked before being /,
eaten. 1t is not quite so like bread as
the name would seem to Indicate: still |
it is white and fioury, mo It satisfy
ing, and of decidedly pleasant taste. |
Taro and yam are staple foods of the |
P1Rffp TnFD To
a dull blue color; yam is white and |
cri p. Both are extremely nourishlng. |
We had one or the other on the table |
every day. Pineapples grow wild /
2 'erywhere in the bush. They are out |
of season from April to October, so / /
missed them during July but had
plenty at Fiji during the latter part of |
September Orange and lemon trees |
are bordering every street and |
around nearly every lot. When ar !
rived oranges were Just going out of |
still thousands were going to |
waste under the trees in every direc. |
ton. 1t must be beautiful sight when
the trees are in full bloom and the
whole air is being scented with ex.
quisite perfume from the flowers.
The pawpaw tree, or mummy |
apple" grows wild everywhere. on |
small. picturesque. palm-like trees,
loaded with dozens of tree melons, |
which are excellent eating, with a
squeeze of lemon or lime and a little |
sugar. There was constantly on our
table supply of ripe tomatoes, the |
Continued on mage 6.