THE FIJI ISLANDS.

Southland Times, Issue 1268, 21 June 1870, Page 3

THE FIJI ISLANDS.

(From the Pacific Commercial Advertiser.) The establishment of a line of steamers on the Pacific Ocean, between the " antipodes" and California, connecting with the overland railroad, and thus bringing the ends of the earth together, naturally sets one a- thinking, in point of prospective and agricultural importance, the group' of islands known as the -Fijis are just now attracting & good deal of attention. They occupy the central position of "Western Polynesia, between latitude 15 deg. 30 mm. and 19 deg. 30 mm. south, and longitude 177 deg. east and 178 deg, west. The group consists of about 300 islands, large and small, of which about 100 are inhabited. Two only are really large, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu. The first is about the size of Hawaii, and has a circumference of about 300 miles, with an elevation at its highest point of some 8000 feet. Vanua Levu, the largest of the group, is 125 mile 3 long by 25 average width, with a coast line of nearly 400 miles. The soil of these islands is wonderfully rich, and they are clothed, with luxuriant tropical vegetation from the mountain topß to the very sea beach, which is lined with ft dense thicket of mangrove. An enthusiastic planter who has lived there some seven or eight years past, makes a statement in regard to the fertility of the soil that would make a Southern man open his eyes. He says: — "I have with my own hands planted kidney-seed cotton at seven o'clock one morning, and at seven the following morning the plant was up, with two full blown leaves ; and, incredible ai this may appear, it happens every day in Fiji. In three months from the planting the cotton crop is ready for picking ; and, by a little management and care, three crops a year may easily be gathered from the same plants. The cotton is fine, and has a long staple. Sugarcane grows in the same luxuriant manner. I have seen cane from twelve to fifteen feet long, and from eight to ten inches in circumference, and this is no uncommon growth. Coffee also grows well, and gives a good aroma. In fact, every tropical production can be produced in quantity and quality per given area, equal to, if not surpassing the same area in any other country." The total population of the islands was estimated twenty years ago at 200,000, but it has since fallen off to about 150,000, as estimated by the missionaries, the usual and apparently inevitable result of the contact of civilisation with barbarism, j The fijians, at the time of their first discovery by Tasman, the renowned Dutch circumnavigator, in 1643, and even down to a very late period, were known to be addicted to the most horrible practices of heathenism. Cannibalism, infanticide, strangling of widows, burying old people alive, and incessant forays dignified by the name of wars ; these were established institutions among them. In 1830 the Wealeyan missionaries gained a footing upon the islands, and their success in their mission has been truly wonderful. Thakombau, now the supreme ruler of the islands, after long wavering, at last, in April, 1854, took the decisive step of professing Christianity, and the horrible custom of cannibalism has ceased. He has abandoned polygamy (he had atone time two hundred wives), was baptised, fully admitted to the Christian church, and by all accounts appears to have faithfully lived up to his obligations and set a good example to his countrymen. . Becent missionary statistics exhibit the following gratifying result! : — Chapels, j 481 ; other preaching places, 2381 ; j

missionaries, 12; native assistant missionaries, 38; catechists, 591; day school teachers, 1351 ; local preachers, 474 ; church members, 17,829 ; attendants on public worship, 90,422 ; day schools, 1215; Sabbath schools, 750. Quite recently, a gentleman who has lived in the Fijis some ten years, called on us on his way to California. He has been engaged in sheep husbandry, and was quite enthusiastic regarding the islands. He states that English settlers are arriving in large numbers from Australia and New Zealand to engage in the raising of Sea Island cotton. A petition, it is said, has been forwarded to Washington, extensively signed by the foreigners and natives, asking the United States Government to assume a protectorate over the entire group. The opinion expressed by our informant-r-himself an Englishmanwas, that either annexation to or protection by the United States was necessary to ensure the rapid advancement of the islands in agriculture and commerce. The American eagle appears to be in danger of being placed in a situation as embarrassing as that of the old woman about whom we read in childhood— " There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, She had so many children, she didn't know what to do."