Islands far away; Fijian pictures with pen and brush . to destroy some of the insect pestswhich infest the sugar cane; and so useful have they provedin this work that, although they have increased enormously,and there are already swarms of them, the planters highly ap-preciate them. Elsewhere, however, they are becoming rathera nuisance, and are showing themselves destructive, especiallyto the thatch of the native houses, of which they make sadhavoc. They are very noisy and very comical as they standin groups, arguing and chattering; and as they are fondof human beings, and constantly frequent
Islands far away; Fijian pictures with pen and brush . to destroy some of the insect pestswhich infest the sugar cane; and so useful have they provedin this work that, although they have increased enormously,and there are already swarms of them, the planters highly ap-preciate them. Elsewhere, however, they are becoming rathera nuisance, and are showing themselves destructive, especiallyto the thatch of the native houses, of which they make sadhavoc. They are very noisy and very comical as they standin groups, arguing and chattering; and as they are fondof human beings, and constantly frequent verandahs, there isplenty of opportunity of studjdng their antics and enjoyingtheir forward and impudent ways. * The Government of India has recently put an end to the transfer toFiji, and other of our tropical colonies, of East Indians, under this carefullydevised and controlled system of indenture, which, for some forty-five yearsin the case of Fiji, has provided the bulk of the manual labour necessary forthe sugar and other industries MYNAH BIRDS ARGUING AND CHATTERING. Chapter VII. A WEEK IN A FIJIAN VILLAGE. Preparations had been going on meanwhile for our visit toVuni-mbau, when we were really to leave civilisation behind,and live the life of the people. Friends were most eager to supply us with every comfort,cups, saucers, plates, knives, forks and spoons, together withsheets, curtains; but we did not want to have with usluxuries which would take away from the true feeling of thenative life, so we took only what we considered absolutelynecessary. Cups, a tea-pot, two clean mats to lie on, a curtainfor privacy, mosquito nets, and our own pillows ; the littlewooden stools used by the natives would hardly have suitedour heads, or rather necks. We took some provisions to supplement the native food, andit was a good thing we did, for, just as we arrived, to rayfellow travellers dismay, we saw all the men of the village anda good many of the women starting off in
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