'Ovalau !'

Up went the ensign of the Great Republic, and, as an hour or so later we dropped anchor in Levuka Harbour, we listened to the peal of bells of the Catholic church summoning the ex-cannibals to

mass.

If this is the present, what is the future in the distance,' not only for Fiji, but for all Coral Lands'? was my thought as I got into the dingy of the Belle Frances, and was pulled leisurely ashore.

Thus after a lengthy cruise over thousands of miles of blue water; after visiting many of the flower-wreathlike atolls encircling their calm lagoons; after sailing past islands whose mountainous-sides, clothed with the densest verdure from the moss of the seashore to the rich foliage of the tropical pandanus, are diversified by hill and valley, and studded near the sea beach with the stately graceful cocoa-nut palms; after noticing the waterfalls in the ravines, with their corresponding openings in countless coral reefs; after seeing brown Sawaioris, sallow Tarapous, and specimens of the unclothed Papuan, and something of the lands they live in ; after endless chats and stories under the awning by day, or by the silver illumination of the big, broad, Pacific moon by night; after learning much not only about the great Pacific, but also about those greater things called patience, gentleness, loyalty, and love, I returned with Jackson to Levuka. I received my budget of letters, and I soon found I had to return at once to London.

One day, Jackson and I were almost alone under the verandah at Sturt's Hotel; the cutter Victoria was

ready to take the mail-bound passengers to Kandavu, and it had come at last to our final 'good-bye.' 'So you are really off ?'

'Yes, it's a case to-day.'

'Will you promise me one thing in England, Stonehewer ?'

'If it's reasonable and possible, I promise.'

'Push the claims of Polynesia with all your heart, and soul, and intellect. Tell the British what it's like, and what it wants.'

'Well, I'll do my best; but it is a difficult work to accomplish.'

'A great and good English statesman once said, "Difficulty is the condition of success." You may not do much, but can do a little. Good-bye-A dios.' This is the last occasion on which I saw Jackson. Till I change time for eternity I shall never see him again.

CHAPTER XXII.

IS NOTHING TO BE DONE?

THESE are my notes on Coral Lands. I plead guilty to the charge that throughout the whole of the preceding pages there has been a marked commercial tone. To put it very plainly, I ask the race which speaks the English language to consider the South Sea Island question. I regret I cannot appeal to them on the grounds of a common religion, our 'unhappy divisions' would put me out of court; but, I can do so both in the name of humanity and com

merce.

Commerce, rightly understood, has a very noble side. It is a truism to say so, but generally speaking the South Pacific is ignorant of the fact. The majority of the islanders of Polynesia have learned little good and much evil from commercial men,' whose operations have been more akin to those of highway robbers than anything else.

6

that

I do not think I exaggerate when I say the future of Polynesia is a British responsibility. Our sons and daughters have made Australasia a great dominion, and their children will assuredly

fulfil the destiny of the Anglo-Saxon race in ultimately ruling most of the islands between the City of the Golden Gate and New Zealand.

With the exception of the Archipelago of Fiji, which we reluctantly annexed (and of which even now the great majority of our people know little or nothing), we are as ignorant of the fund of wealth that lies before us in the Pacific Ocean as we are of the moral duty that is bound up with its investigation. On the basis of high-minded commerce we can all unite in shaping the future of the islands which inevitably will fall into the custody of our race.

If I have proved nothing else, I have, I hope, at least demonstrated that the races now inhabiting the islands of the South Pacific are worthy of our care.

They have traditions and a history which should command the attention of every student; and I believe, moreover, that they are destined by Providence to produce the free-born cultivators of a region which will be the Mauritius and West Indies for an Australasian Dominion, rivalling, and perhaps excelling, our Empire in the East.

If these people are to be abandoned to chance by this country, it will be, on our part, a decided step towards that parochialism which has made Holland what it is.

It has been stated we annexed the Transvaal to protect the natives of that country against the alleged oppression of the Boers.

If the Kaffirs of South Africa have deserved this exercise of British justice, what can not be said on behalf of the Christian populations of the South Pacific, who

have petitioned for incorporation with the British Empire over and over again, and who are even now, as I write, at the mercy of any unprincipled adventurer who may wish, in his, or his partners' interest, to reduce them to abject slavery.

Throughout the whole length and breadth of the great South Sea the ordinary Englishman or American is regarded by the natives with goodwill. The Spaniard or Spanish American is, I am sorry to say, hated with an intensity which it is impossible to describe in words; while, as regards Germans, the success of Messrs. Godeffroy's Line Island labourships, in the year 1879, is a sufficient commentary. Taking the whole world into consideration, we alone seem able to deal successfully with the great native question. It is true that at times individuals may be cruelly overbearing in maintaining that superiority of race to which we have a very ample title, but with all our short-comings-and I am the very last Englishman to believe in British infallibility-I know that under the flag of England, the native races confided to our care are honestly and fairly dealt by.

If I did not think so I would not advocate British protection for, and more extended British commercial relations with, Polynesia.

I am fully aware that this is Imperialism, and that of a very gross order, inasmuch as it means an increased trade. However, if an honest recognition of the moral, political, and commercial responsibilities and profits arising from the position which the AngloSaxon race holds in the world be Imperialism, then I am Imperialist heart and soul.