The Simple Life.

The true wealth of the group consists in the luxuriance of the cocoanut groves, of which the annual yield is enormous. Working for a month or two in his plantation, the Tongan makes enough money to keep him for a whole year. He has few wants,' and isn't worried by tailors' bills or suchlike ills, for as the Bab balladist has informed us:

Except a shell, a bangle rare,
A feather here, a feather there,
The South Pacific niggers wear
Their native nothingness.

This is not an exact description of Tongan costume, but is not very wide of the mark. A man is well dressed if he wears a bright cloth around his loins and a singlet on his back. The Tongan, like the other Polynesian people, does not regard work as the chief end of man. Some—who, by the way, don't toil so very Hard themselves—urge that the Tongan should be made to labour all the year round. But why? Idleness isn't good for him, they say. Nature lias provided the native with all he requires in the way of sustenance, and why shouldn't he lead the simple life if he chooses so to do?

The native population numbers about 21,000, and there are about 300 Europeans in the group.