getarians, but the vegetables which they
cultivate "contain a large proportion of starch and water, and are
deficient in proteids. Moreover, the supply of the principal staples is
irregular, being greatly affected by variable seasons, and the attacks
of insects and vermin. Very few of them will bear keeping, and almost
all of them must be eaten when ripe. As the food is of low nutritive
value, a native always eats to repletion. In times of plenty a
full-grown man will eat as much as ten pounds' weight of vegetables in
the day; he will seldom be satisfied with less than five. A great
quantity, therefore, is required to feed a very few people, and as
everything is transported by hand, a disproportionate amount of time is
spent in transporting food from the plantation to the consumer. The time
spent in growing native food is also out of all proportion to its value"
(Basil Thomson, _op. cit._ pp. 334 _sq._). The same writer tells us (p.
335) that it has never occurred to the Fijians to dry any of the fruits
they grow and to grind them into flour, as is done in Africa.]

[Footnote 653: Capt. J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the
Islands of the Western Pacific_ (London, 1853), pp. 272 _sq._]

[Footnote 654: Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 46, 363. As to the cruelty
and depravity of the Fijians in the old days see further Lorimer Fison,
_Tales from Old Fiji_ (London, 1904), pp. xv. _sqq._]

[Footnote 655: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 6 _sq._ As to
the scenery of the Fijian archipelago see further _id._, i. 4 _sqq._;
Ch. Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 46, 322; _Stanford's Compendium of Geography
and Travel, Australasia_, vol. ii. _Malaysia and the Pacific
Archipelago_, edited by F. H. H. Guillemard (London, 1894), pp. 467
_sqq._; Miss Beatrice Grimshaw, _From Fiji to the Cannibal Islands_
(London, 1907), pp. 43 _sq._, 54 _sq._, 76-78, 106, 109 _sq._]

[Footnote 656: Th. Williams, _Fiji and the Fijians_, i. 5 _sq._, 11; Ch.
Wilkes, _op. cit._ iii. 46 _sq._ However, there is a remarkable
difference not only in climate but in appearance between the windward
and the leeward sides of these islands. The windward side, watered by
abundant showers, is covered with luxuriant tropical vegetation; the
leeward side, receiving little rain, presents a comparatively barren and
burnt appearance, the vegetation dying down to the grey hues of the
boulders among which it struggles for life. Hence the dry leeward side
is better adapted