LURE OF TROPICAL ISLANDS

Evening Star, Issue 19891, 13 June 1928, Page 2

LURE OF TROPICAL ISLANDS

Ever since the early navigators discovered the Pacific Islands romance has invested them with a particular charm, and New Zealand people are fortunate in that they are within such a short sailing distance of these islands. The fascination of Fiji is well known to all who have spent even a week among these great, populous islands, so unlike the dreamy little nests of sun and solitude that make up the other and lesser groups of the island world. The population of the Fijis is about 155,000, of which some 90,000 are Fijians. On landing at Suva the native armed constabulary, with their smart blue tunics and white sulus (kilts) with vandyked edges, immediately attract the attention, making a conspicuous element in the brilliant show of the native population. Hie picturesque quality of the scene is heightened by the number of Indians everywhere visible—dark men in turbans and curiously swathed nether garments, bright-eyed women in fancy muslin dresses decked with countless necklaces, nose rings, armlets, and bracelets. Nukualofa, Haapai, and Yavau, in Tonga, and Apia, in Samoa, are also included in the round trip which is made by steamer from New Zealand every few weeks. There is romance in the very names of these paradises of the South Seas, and each has a charm entirely its own.