The Morris County chronicle. [volume] (Morristown, N.J.) 1877-1915, 1910-11-22
RULED WHALERS
and CANNIBALS
British Governor Of Falkland
Islands Now on Vacation.
Is YEARS AMONG THE FIJIS

man to Prevent Serving OF Himself
as Piece de Resistanee-Left Tropics
to Serve Union Jack on Edge of Ant
arctic.
Twenty-Five years in the south sea
islands and six years on the border of
the antarctic are enough to fill per
son with desire to see something of
the rest of the world, and that is poA
sibly ore reason why w. L. Allardyce.
his Britannia majesty's governor of the
Falkland islands, is making tour of
the world.
From 1870, when he first went out TO
the south seas as a junior clerk. until
1904 Governor Allardyce spent most of
his time in the various islands in the
Pacific, notably in Samoa, Tonga and
the Fills.
81 first went to the Fills when King
Thakombar was alive" said Governor
Ailardyce in New York recently. HE
was the original king of the cannibal
isles who has been sung about. Tha-
k0mbar was tall man with big
wEite beard, and his hands We're so
big that if you put one of yours in
his it would disappear. He always
wore the native garb, somewhat modi-
fled, for he insisted upon the white
shirt of civilization and a necktie.
which first he wore tucked into a kilt
of native cloth. His legs were bare.
He also wore a headdress of some kind
OF white or smoked native cloth.
Fiji Etiquette Severe.
'Thakombar always insisted upon the
observance of the outward forms of
respect. As a rule, the native Fijian
doffs his headdress when he comes into
the presence of a higher chief, but this
was not enough for Thakombar. The
man who met the king ON the road had
to sit down in the road and clap his
hands or smite his thighs and shout
tWoh, wohr
The missionaries thought the Fiji
ans We're civilized in that early day,
and the natives had nominally accept
ed Christianity, but as late as 1894
they were not up to all the forms of
Christianity and civilization. for they
were still eating one another. In that
year. however, it was stopped by force.
There had been an outbreak in the
interior. | was native minister at the
time and with the governor, some
1000 native allies and a few hundred
OF our own men went up ana called
upon the cannibals to give up those
of their number who had not long be-
fore eaten two native missionaries.
To our amazement the leaders re-
piled that If we did not go away they
would put the governor and myself in
the oven also. We tried to call them
to reason, but they would not enter
tain our truce ENJOYS. Finally we had
to attack them. We captured some 200
Of them in the fight, and the licking
they got taught them we meant what
we said. and there has been no more
man eating since then.
White Population Growing.
s'In the early eighties there were not
more than 1900 white men in all the
Islands. They were mostly Anglo
Saxons, some being Americans. The
white population of the country is now
over 1000 In addition some 10000
East Indians have been imported into
the country from Bengal to work the
sugar plantations. The sugar industry
has grown so that the expectation is
now approximately $4,000 tons.
I'VE try to preserve the communal
system of government among them as
far as possible. The people are ruled
by their chiefs. the something like
10000 Fiiians having several dozen
head chiefs, and these have many pet
ty ones under them. The heads of
provinces are paid salaries ranging
from $1,000 year downward. These
chiefs have not the power Of life and
death.
There is never any summer in the
Falklands,' continued Governor Al
lardyce; "but, ON the other hand. the
thermometer hardly ever goes down to
zero But what gets to you is the cold
wind with low temperature. Most
of the people there are engaged either
in sheep raising or whaling. The
whole country is sheep farm. and the
holdings range from 100000 acres, run
ming 100000 sheep, to small runs that
carry only 1900 to 1000. There are
100000 sheep in the Fallxlands. In
the Falklands group are some fifty or
sixty islands. The largest being East
Falkland. which is about 90 by SO
miles. and West Falkland, which is 20
by 80 miles.
t"The whaling industry is very re-
munerative. The whalers are mostly
Norwegians, and they fish around the
FaIlxlands and South Georgia, also go
ing as far south ais the South Shet,
lands and the South Orkneys
There are FIVE different kinds of
whales in those waters OF them the
right whale, or the nord kappa, as
the Norwegians call 1t, is worth from
$500 to $4,000, principally on ac-
count of the whalebone. Then there
is flle blue whale. which is the biggest
of all. often running to 90 or 100 feet
in length. The sperm whale, of course,
everybody knows, Then there is the
humpbacked whale. so called from an
enormous hump. and the sci whale.
which Is not w important."
Japanese Investigators have proved
that the southern half Of the Island Of
Sakhaiin Is a good winter wheat coun-
try.