THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. EXPERIENCES OF A NEW ZEALAND TRADER.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 32, 12 January 1884, Page 6

THE SOLOMON ISLANDS. EXPERIENCES OF A NEW ZEALAND TRADER.

The next large adjacent island of Guadalcanal' is one of the finest in the group— 9o miles in length, and 30 to 40 broad. It is composed of fertile soil from the sea coast to the summit of the highest mountains. Every variety of climate can be experienced here, for it possesses a range of high mountains running from end to end, Mount Lamereas, the highest, being 8,000 feet high. Many fine rivers, navigable for miles into the interior, run into the sea on its northorn side. The streams on its southern side, however, are all mountain torrents. With a belt of dense forest running along the level northern coast, and for a quarter of the heigkt of the mountains on its southern side, all the rest of the country is covered with a dense growth of rank grass, five feet high, which forms admirable cattle feed when young. Hundreds of thousands of acres covered with this grass, with bush in the intervening gullies, verdant all the year round, forms a fine spectacle sailing along tho coast. In future days these hills will be adorned by the residences of wealthy Europeans, who will have their sugar and other plantations on the plains, and those of coffee on. the hills. They will be enabled to enjoy up there a climate as mild and healthy as that of New Zealand, and grow in their gardens the products of temperate climes. The natives of India and China will evontually supplant in a great measure the present lazy aboriginals of the country, and a tropical colony will grow up here without the drawbacks arising from the diseases usually incident to such climates, and also free from the disastrous effects of hurricanes and droughts to which other countries in the tropics are liable. It needs no {prophet to foretell the future prosperity of sucH a group as this. When the West Indies, notwithstanding the deadly yellow fever and other diseases, are, or at least were one of the most productive of British dependencies, what will these become, with soil as fertile, if not more^ so, with natural products in vast quantities already known to commerce, and the forests abounding in hard wood, trees alike valuable for the beauty of their grain and their endurance, with a population hostile at present from tho paucity of Europeans, but easily amenable to civil influence, if not to honesty ? Guadalcanar was discovored and named with other portions of the group 300 years ago by tho Spaniard Mandana. It has never had more than three Europeans resident upon it at one time. It possesses at its eastern extremity a splendid harbour called Marau Sound, perhaps the finest in the group, with four entrances, all fit for ships of the largest size, and which, were beacon lights erected, could bo entered with perfect safety by night as well as by day. The anchorage inside is perfectly landlocked, and any depth of water can be got from 5 to 25 fathoms, with abundance of the best of water and firewood, At times, I also, any amount of yams can be purchased in the harbour, but only from the bushmen, for the inhabitants of the different islands are apparently utterly neglecting cultivation, as, being well supplied with trade, they are enabled to procure i all the provisions they require from the bushmen ; and every fine day many canoes, propelled by women only, may be seen departing to various* parts of the main land, with which they have signalled over night by means of fires, for the purpose of buying yams and other food. The coast natives all through the group are already neglecting their plantations when too well supplied with trade, preferring the chance of purchasing food from the natives to going to the labour of cultivating for themselves. Marau Sound is the only harbour in the island, though there are a dozen fair anchorages — amongst others Wanderer's Bay. at the south-western extremity ; so named after the yacht of the ill-fated Mr Boyd, of Sydney, who was murdered at this spot while out pigeon-shooting, as described by Mr Webster in his "Last Cruise of the Wanderer." We lay anchored off this spot for three days, and were invited ashore by several chiefs of the surrounding villages, all of whose invitations we accepted, with the exception of that of the young chief of Wanderer Bay itself, whom none of us cared to trust, for he had one of the most villainous countenances that ever graced a human being. The population must be greatly decreased since Mr Webster saw them, for six miles on either side of the bay could not produce the number of fighting men that assailed the Wanderer. This was tho only part of the Solomons where women visited the ship; on other parts they were not allowed by the men to come on board, and though they are well used to the motion of their canoes, yet though the vessel was only rolling slightly, many of them were sea-sick before they were ten minutes on board. I may here mention that I have repeatedly seen men who were most eager to volunteer as labourers beg to be put back as soon as they became sea-sick.

The Various Fauna of tho Island. The rivers of Guadalcanar are swarming with fish, some of large size weighing nearly 100 lbs ; alligators also abound. One was shot by thejcaptain of a!New Zealand vessel while swimming out at sea, measuring fourteen feet six inches, whose stuffed skin is now in .Auckland. The natives set nooses of cane for these brutes at known places of exit from the various ponds and rivers. Instances of boys losing some of their limbs from their attacks are not uncommon, and the natives dread going into deep still pools frequented by them. They often come out of the water and seize pigs or dogs lying asleep on the banks. The mouth of every creek and river abounds with quartz brought down from the mountains. On this island and all the rest to the westward, the men are nude, but the women wear a kilb made of a fibre resembling jute, which is produced from the bark of a tree. This is the iirßt island towards the west where the white cockatoo is found, and is all the more noticeable, as the vegetation on San Christoval is of exactly the same description, consequently would furnish the same food; and the distance between tho two islands is only 30 miles — not so much as that existing between Guadalcanar and Isabel, where the birds abound. The natives have the art of taming them completely, and they then let them have their liberty j. they stop about the village, often flying down. t6 the houses to obtain a feed ; a few are able to talk, and speak native words very plainly j auchi as theso the natives will not part with at any price. Guadalcanar possesses one peculiarity, viz., g roves of cocoanut trees in full bearing for miles inland on the plains. Such fact would be unnoticed but from pbservaijkjn and report, for tho country for miles inland

on the northern coaqt is ftsUvelas.atable, and the trees cannot be seen' by 'a Vessel ooasting along. •• ■ " f '' '

Outrages by Natives. Twelve miles to the 'westward of JVjtarau Sound on the north 'side was the village where Captain ' RR — — , "of Auckland^ was wounded by a tomahawk blow. We called in there recently f6r some produce, and the 1 Sandfly followed us, The captain went, ashore and inquired into the outrage, as usual. The only satisfaction he could get was that it was " Man Bush " who had done' it, no one'else. Theyjtry to kill a white man, never ! not for the world would they do such a thing ; they were only sorry they could not get hold of the rascal j they would give liim up, but unfortunately he was gone, no one knew whither, and so on, with the usual string of lies and vehement exclamations. However, the skipper warned them against any more such " tricks against travellers." During his discourse, I noticed all the real chiefs clearing off in all directions quietly (they felt nervous, no doubt), and" leaving him tp address an unfortunate old man who was neither a " Rangatira " nor did he understand a word of English. The captain then nullified all his threats by asking the poor old wretoh on board to have some dinner and a glass of grog. Of course he didn't go ; had no appetite just at the time, or some such reason ; but anyhow, he had made up in his own mind that when he was caught eating dinner on board that man-o-war he would like them to let him know it. This is generally the way with skippers just out from Horne — they bounce (and very properly, too) the natives first, and then destroy all the effect they have just created by some such invitation as tjie above. The natives don't understand this at all. They naturally think there is some insidious trap set for them, and while frightened they still more dislike us for the fraud spread, as they take it. The natives of this island are warlike and very numerous; no conception of the number of villages it contains can be formed without travelling through the bush in the interior, where every square mile seems to bear a large village. The greater chiefs on the coast seem able to summon several hundred fighting men in a couple of hours, and were one not aware of the close proximity of the villages inland, you would wonder where they came from. Every i village here, as elsewhere in the Solomons, | has its chief called Manni Prina. Powerful chiefs such as they have in Fiji are almost unknown. I only know of two exceptions. The southern coast is almost unapproach- ; able in the calmest weather, on account of ! the heavy ocean swell which rolls upon J it. The natives watch their opportunity and launch their light and graceful canoes upon the retreating wave, and paddle in haste to get out of the break of its successor. About Smiles off the N.W. end of Guadalcanal lies

The Pretty Volcanic Island of Savoo, ; the highest peak of which is 1,800 feet. This island is purely volcanic. It is only ! about 7 miles long by 5 or 6 broad, without harbours, and the anchorage close in shore. The tides throughout the Solomon Group are very strong and often irregular, and when it changes on the Savoo shore often whirls the vessel round several times with great rapidity. There is still a small fire burning on one of the peaks, but it is of little consequence. Two or three hot springs j are found on the island ; one of these can nearly always be distinguished in damp weather by the steam eollectingaboveit. The natives dig wells on the beaches just above high-water mark for the purpose of obtaining water for ablutionary purposes The contents of these are about blood heat, perhaps a little wanner. There is not a single creek or cold water spring in the island, the natives obtaining their drinking water from wells dug in the soil at a higher level iAmn those on the beach. This latter water is cold, but of bad taste, and consequently large numbei's of green cocoanuts are used here. Nothing can exceed the beauty of Savoo viewed from the deck of u a vessel on a fine morning. The sharp graceful volcanic cones, of which there are several of various heights on the southern side, are clothed with bush of every hue of green to their very summits. It is encircled by a ring of cocoanut palms, which also grow to a great altitude. Village upon village is passed, embowered in the trees ; many of its beaches are of beautiful coral sand. This, for its size, is probably the most populous island in the group, and the only place much visited by vessels where the women seem universally prolific. The skin disease so prevalent In other parts, is rare here ; all the inhabitants are stout and healthy looking. As the custom of burying the dead in the sea is almost universally carried out here, it is exceedingly dangerous to bathe in the sea, even within one's depth, the sharks being regular man-eaters and very bold.

A Curious Variety of Fruit. The island is excessively fertile, almost too much so for European vegetables to succeed the first year, as they show a tendency to run into stalk and leaf alone, without fruit. There is a small variety of the cocoanut tree found on this small island, which I have never seen in any other part of this or other- groups. The trunk rarely exceeds 6 feet in height, and the nut when the husk is stripped off, is no larger than a medium-sized orange with a sharp point projecting over each of the three eyes. The natives can give no account oil it ; they call it a wild cocoanut, but if so, it is quite different to the usual wild cocoanuts of other islands ; the milk and kernel are singularly sweet. Had I only seen^ a single nut, I should have consiaei'ed it an abortion, but the number I have met with here completely precludes such an idea as this. Moat people imagine that all cocoanuts are alike, but there are probably" not less than 50 varieties in the world, of which the South Seas have their fair share. The natives of all islands that I have ever been to are perfectly aware of this, and make use of the knowledge, preferring to plant the deep orange-coloured cocoanut for oil and food. One or two other varieties aro preferable for drinking, and a long-husked variety is the only sort worth making' rope coir out of. Usually in a walk of a mile in extent you can see from sto 10 varieties. I have often heard people speak of the sickly taste of young cocoanuts ; they probably only drank the milk 61 poor sorts. Sonic onlyrequireafcablespoonful of brandy to give them a, vinous flavour, when they are equal to a draught of sweet, light wine,' and es-, pecially pleasant to a thirsty soul in the tropics, and we afe always thirsty .there. It is a tree one never tires of ; so useful arid graceful, it' pleases' especially the sense: of sight.

< During a rehearsal, Braham said to Tom Cooke, who was the conductor - ••* Now, Tom, keep the 1 piano quiet here, because, lust at this part, to give effect, I intend dropping my voioe." "Do you 1 .By the powers,* said Tom, "whereabouts? for its Just the sort of voice I should like to pick PAP A new Act came into fdi'ce'ih Vict^ia on the Ist inst., by which all newspapers will now incur a penalty, if they publish adver.tisements relating' to .racing sweeps or^ betting matters, ' , ' ' ¥ „,