Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial OfficeSargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
History
Australasia: Eight Lectures Prepared for the Visual Instruction Committee of the Colonial Office
Sargent, A. J. (Arthur John)
Australasia -- Description and travel
The cultivation of produce for export is due to the initiative
of Europeans, and is largely carried on by the East Indian
immigrants who now form a very considerable element in the
population. We have already noticed the Hindu women in the
streets of Suva. For a few years, during the American Civil War,
Fiji exported excellent cotton, but at the present day its export
trade consists practically of sugar, copra or dried coconut,
and bananas. The sugar-cane is a native of the wet and fertile
lowlands of the deltas; but the cultivated kinds are mostly
introduced from elsewhere. We find the cane fields covering much
of the land along certain parts of the coast, and on the river
deltas of Viti Levu and Vanua Levu; and these are connected by
nearly two hundred miles of steam tramways, which carry the cane
to the centrally placed mills. Here is a view across the Rewa, 29
showing a sugar mill; inside the ugly buildings we find the
elaborate European machinery for extracting the juice from the 30
cane. Here again we are in the cane fields with Indian women at
work. It is all unlike the native agriculture, though it is very 31
profitable to Fiji, since sugar is the most valuable of all its
exports.
The coconut industry is far more picturesque; it is chiefly
confined to the south side of Vanua Levu and to Taveuni and the
other islands. The nut is grown for its kernel, which, when
dried, is called copra, and yields the coconut oil which we use
for various purposes. The tree grows everywhere in this region,
but does not flourish in Viti Levu owing to an insect pest which
seems peculiar to that island. The nut has always been much used
by the natives for food, but it is now carefully cultivated for
the production of copra. Here is a plantation with the bungalow 32
of the planter; notice the hills in the background; here again
is a tree carrying its fruit in curious clusters just below the 33
crown of leaves. The natives, who are excellent climbers, swarm
up the taller trees to gather any fruit which is wanted in a not 34
quite ripe state, as for eating or drinking; but the bulk of
the nuts, intended for copra, are allowed to ripen on the tree
until they drop off. The ripe nuts are then cut open, the kernels 35
extracted and dried in great trays and put into bags for shipment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account