Show ra am ai bil 1 4 M AA Y WIMP I 1 16 0 A alom ra or N I 1 A pvc M a in i effi I 1 scene in the FIJI islands Pre prepared Dared by the national geographic society washington 1 D C ser ice NE of the worst hurricanes of 0 ONE recent weeks struck tile the fiji islands island about which there are probably more misconceptions than about any other of the pacific islands three popular fallacies about the MIS are arethas that they are tiny islets that they are typical tropical lands hot fiat and unhealthy and that the natives are bri savages virges in reality the flais are the largest islands situated well out in the pacific only new caledonia the solomon islands and the bis marcks all relatively close to australia and new guinea are larger the total area of the fills Is greater than that of the Ha hawaiian wallan lalands islands and vill levu the main island of the group Is almost exactly the same size as hawaii the giant of the northern islands FIJI Is in fact often referred to as aa tile the hawaii of the south the area of vitt levu leva Is more than square miles and this island alone is thus half the size of the state of massachusetts it la is more than 75 5 miles long fall and 50 broad and contains a mountain range with peaks to couo feet high it Is among the few pacific islands with a river 50 miles long which Is navigable by small boats although fiji is well nell the tropics having a south latitude corresponding to the north latitude of jamaica it has an unexpectedly temperate climate this Is due chiefly ell icily to the considerable size of the islands and their mountains which intercept the clouds and cool air currents and bring them to lower levels suva the capital situated on the largest island has its tennis and cricket addicts who play in comfort r fiji aji is truly a white mans land the temperature seldom tops 00 degrees fahrenheit or drops below ga so pleasant plen sant is it i most of the year that lightweight white clothing has not the vogue that it has elsewhere in the tropics and garments like those worn in n america and europe are to be seen at all seasons ranks high in healthfulness Healthful nesa on the score of healthfulness fiji stands particularly high it Is said to be the most healthful tropical land in the world the rearing ot of children by europeans fraught with difficulties in most other tropical lands causes no anxiety in fiji one surprise Is the utter absence of malaria in the islands mosquitoes are present but they do not transmit this and other diseases from which europeans euffer duffer in other tropical lands when first well knon to europeans in the late lafe eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the fijians were the most bloodthirsty blood thirsty nod and savage cannibals in all the south seas cannibalism was not only indulged in when enemies had been killed these people actually slaughtered relatives and companions for merit ment they quickly c line came under missionary influence however and the entire native population became christianized Christiani zed the fijian of today la is mild mannered kindly and courteous the natives are predominantly of melanesian stocks that Is of the dark negroid kinky hilred type of islanders there has been however an admixture of polynesian blood like that of the Hawaii hawaiians ans and alch has given the fijian bijl in a better physique and a handsomer appearance than those of the full blood Melanes luns the fijians are particularly race con cc lutis and although europeans have been on the islands for a century und arid although enst east indians have made up a large part of the population for many years there are practically no half breeds many east indians there so large Is the east I 1 indian population that it was thought a few years ago that the islands would eventually become virtually a col orly ony of india there are now about GOMM indians fijians nod and 4 too europeans in fiji during the past liast few decades sugar production has hern been fidis chief industry tile the fillans do not take kindly to plantation work so thousands of lost indians Inilla ns were imported to bork ork in the cane fields these laborers were brought in on fields they were brought in on the indenture system binding to work for live five years after the indenture period thousands settled in the IS islands ands to grow cane or rice on their own account or to trade among the natives the indenture system was abolished in 1920 and as a result the sugar industry seems doomed the government Is encouraging the growth of rubber trees cotton and rice coconuts have been second only to sugar in importance thousands of tons of the dried kernels known as copra are exported annually most of the valleys and hills and mountains of fiji are blanketed with luxuriant vegetation As in hawaii however the lee sides of the islands have fewer trees and are covered with long grass only the fringe 0 of the islands and the river valleys have been developed roads are few transportation depending chiefly on boats and launches A surprising feature of the fidis especially to those who have thought of them as small islands are the many large broad rivers the rewa newa river near suva Is navigable for 50 miles suva Is to the south pacific much what honolulu Is to the north it Is the chief cable station of the canada australia cable and a regular port of call for mall mail steamers from vancouver to sydney suva Is also within easy of new zealand and australia aud has weekly steamers to and frem these dominions suva Is quite up to date it is an attractive little tropical city on a good harbor approximate ly two miles square the chief business street of substantial concrete buildings extends along the water front find and the residential sections climb the slopes behind practically all the dwellings are bungalows hite or cream colored and usually with red roofs every bungalow has its broad verandas on at least two sides and in many cases they extend completely around tile the house the veranda paradoxically is the heart of the suvan household in ILL spite of its remoteness suva can furnish many of the comforts to which europeans and americans are used it has a water works 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 eitl levu has only a limited mileage of motor roadways however hoever 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 tile the young you n g fijians in store clothes their shocks shock s of bleached hair standing out from their th c ir heads behind them are indian coolies and traders mith their women the latter are dressed colorfully and jingle with their heavy necklaces bracelets and ankles anklets an rin klets scattered in the passing groups are people of other pacific lands solomon islanders lan aers samoans Sa moans new baledon caledon ians fans conspicuous of 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 british crown colony they have been under the british hag flag since 1874 helped by the panama canal the opening of the panama canal call was helpful to the fiji islands before the islands were as far oft off the world trade routes as robin son crushes Cru isle since ships began moving through the canal fiji Is on the traveled path between england and her important posses felons australia and new zealand ships having given FIJI a reason tor for commercial existence the islands have hae striven gallantly to produce not only sugar cane and copra but also coffee cotton rubber rind and cattle the odds are against FIJI in two respects native philosophy insists that life la is made for fun full and frolic and the warm tropics conspire to produce pests as generously os as plants in the tr tropics ples it Is bald there Is no ointment without its ry fly sugar cane had its labor shortage tile the banana its borer coffee its leaf disease cotton the capricious american market and coconuts the hurricane in spite of these obstacles fifis exports rose from SO in MIS to more than in 1928 an occasional hurricane Is ver acri destructive destruct he hut but normally these disturbances tur bances are affectionately known as blows |