The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1931-04-24

uouHldlHS Oh FIJI are DlanketeU WlCn
luxuriant vegetation. AS in Hawaii,
| however, the lee sides of the islands
| have fewer trees and are covered with
long grass. Only the fringe of the is
lands and the river valleys have been
developed. Roads are few, transpor-
tation depending chiefly on boats and
launches. A surprising feature of the
| Fills, especially to those who have
thought of them as small islands, are
the many large, broad rivers. The
Rewa river near Suva is navigable for
so miles.
Suva is to the South Pacific much
what Honolulu is to the north 1t is
the chief cable station of the Canada
Australia cable and a regular port of
call for mail steamers from Vancouver
to Sydney. Suva is also within easy
reach of New Zealand and Australia
these dominions
Suva Is Quite Up to Date.
1t Is an attractive little tropical
city on a good harbor approximately
two miles square. The chief business
street Of substantial concrete buildings
extends along the water front, and
the residential sections climb the
slopes behind. Practically all the
dwellings are bungalows, white or
cream colored, and usually with red
roofs. Every bungalow has it's broad
verandas on at least two sides, and
in, nj taIx
around the house. The veranda, para
doxically, is the heart of the Suvan
household.
In spite of it's remoteness, Suva can
furnish many of the comforts to which
Europeans and Americans are used
1t has a waterworks, electric lights.
and telephones. There are no street
cars, but motor cars may be hired for
drives around the town and into the
nearby country. Viii Lew has only
limited mileage of motor roadways,
however.
Like most South Sea capitals, Suva
is cosmopolitan. If one stands on the
Victoria Parade of an afternoon the
passing show speaks of many lands.
There are the young Fijians in "store"
clothes, their shocks of bleached hair
standing out from their heads. Be
hind them are Indian coolies and
traders with their women. The latter
are dressed colorfully and jingle with
their heavy necklaces, bracelets, and
anklets. Scattered in the passing
groups are people of other Pacific
lands: Solomon Islanders, Samoans,
course, are the Europeans, the men
usually in spotless white. In passing
automobiles are the women Of the
European colony.
The Fiji islands constitute a Brit
ish crown colony. They have been
under the British flag since 1874.
Fiji has the distinction of greeting
each new day earlier than practically
all other lands in the world. It lies
just west of the international date
line. Sunday is born there when it is
still early Saturday morning in the
United States and Saturday noon in
England.
Helped by the Panama Canal.
The opening Of the Panama canal
was helpful to the Fiji islands. Be
fore, the islands were as far off the
world trade routes as Robinson Cru
soe's isle. Since ships began moving
through the canal Fiji is on the trav-
eled path between England and her
important possessions, Australia and
New Zealand. Ships having given Fiji
a reason for commercial existence, the
islands have striven calamity to pro-
duce not only sugar cane and copra,
but also coffee, cotton, rubber and cat
tie. The odds are against Fiji in two
respects; native philosophy insists
that life is made for fun and frolic
and the warm tropics conspire to pro-
duce pests as generously as plants. In
the tropics, it is said, there is no
ointment without its fly; sugar cane
had its labor shortage, the banana its
borer, coffee it's leaf disease, cotton
the capricious American market, and
coconuts the hurricane In spite of
these obstacles Fills exports rose
from S60OO,OO0 in 1919, to more than
S13,000,OO0 in 1923.
An occasional hurricane is very de
structive, but normally these disturb.
ances are affectionately known as
"blows." They cannot jar the menta;
serenity Of Fiji residents, one of whom
claims "blows" are not an unmixed
evil. maintaining that "They stir
things up. They prune the trees of
fruit and leaves and give their fe
cundity a rest, so they bear better aft
erwards. They loosen. the soil around
the roots. They dig about them, as it
were, and even blow moths and other
insect pests out into the ocean,"