Many natives live in and about Suva and Levuka, the principal towns, but most of them dwell in villages scattered over the islands. A Fiji village consists almost entirely of thatched huts with walls of woven bamboo built without the use of nails. The roofs are thick and the thatch is so skilfully put on that it seems to be woven. Some of the houses are conical in shape, others oblong, and others oval. The usual hut has but one room, in which the whole family stays in the daytime, when it rains, and where all sleep at night. The bed is a mat on the floor, and the pillow a bamboo log, which is placed under the neck in order to keep the sleeper’s headdress well up from the ground. There is but little cooking, as raw fruit forms a large part of the diet of the people.
The chief ports of the Fijis, Suva and Levuka, have steamship service to Sydney, Auckland, the Tongas, and the Samoa Islands. An excursion to Suva, which is also the capital, is a popular winter trip for New Zealanders. Besides the natives, about a thousand Europeans live there, most of them in well-built modern houses. Its chief street, the Victoria Parade, is lined on one side with rain trees whose thick foliage protects one from the sun, and on the other side with hotels and business houses. The British governor has his office at Suva. He lives there like a little king in a palace that cost about a hundred thousand dollars.
The Governor of the Fijis is appointed by the King of England, and gets a salary of fifteen thousand dollars a year, besides the five thousand he is paid as High Commissioner of the Western Pacific. He has a sort of cabinet, or executive council. The laws for the islands are made by a legislative council, of which he is president. There are a large number of district chiefs and native magistrates, and seven of the provinces have resident supervisors to assist the chiefs. In ordinary matters the native laws and customs are respected as far as possible. There is a constabulary of Fijians and East Indians, besides the defence force, which is composed of Europeans, half-castes, and natives.
Most of the money made in the Fijis comes from sugar plantations and coconut groves. Upon the higher portions of the islands coffee is now being grown, and yields about five hundred pounds to the acre. A large number of tea gardens have been set out, and some planters are making money from rubber.
Each coconut tree has an average yield of a hundred nuts per annum, and brings in about a dollar per year net. At this rate, a grove of ten thousand trees will mean ten thousand dollars a year, and as the trees are set close together ten thousand do not take up any great area. After the trees are once planted, little needs to be done until they begin to bear at the end of from five to seven years. The nuts are broken open and the meat is cut up and dried, to be shipped abroad as copra, for use in making soaps, hair restorers, and “nut” butter.
Nearly all the profitable enterprises in the islands are owned or backed by Englishmen. The chief difficulty that confronts them is the labour problem. Having few wants and being blessed by nature with the means of supplying them without much trouble, the Fijians feel no need to work. Sustained effort they abhor, although in their own way they are industrious, and are the best native carpenters and canoe builders in the South Seas.
Though the largest island in the Samoan group, Savii has few inhabitants. It is volcanic and parts of it are often enveloped in clouds of steam caused by boiling lava rushing down into the sea.
The native church at Apia is well attended, the Samoans being fond of religious ceremonies. Most families also hold daily prayer services in their homes.