Sandalwood In The

South Seas

IN November, 1829, news was brought to Oahu (Hawaii) that an island rich in sandalwood had been discovered in New Hebrides. The Hawaiians had been doing a great trade with the East; but the extensive groves of Hawaiian sandal wood, which had been discovered in 1790, were almost depleted in 1824.

The Hawaiians were ready to exploit other islands, and two brigs were fitted out. Some 500 people, including ten foreigners, started for this Eldorado. They first called at Rotuma, north of Fiji; and from there they sailed for Erromanga, New Hebrides. The first brig, the Kame hameha, was never heard of again. The Becket reached Erromanga; but, fighting with the natives, they obtained no sandal wood; and as her sister ship did not arrive, the chief in command turned homeward.

Until the middle of the 18th century, all the commercial sandalwood had been col lected in the East Indies and from Southern India. But after Captain Cook described the Pacific Islands, the hardy traders knew that there was money to be made, and one of the first products they discovered was the sandalwood in Fiji.

The Tongan Islanders had been trading there before.

Then Australia took a hand. Sydney merchants fitted out brigs and schooners, manned with restless adventurers who, like the whalers, received a bonus on all the sandalwood collected, in addition to their wages. Sydney became a centre for its export to the East. Governor Bligh, looking for revenue, placed an import duty of £2/10/- a ton on all sandalwood

landed, but as it brought from £5O to £7O a ton, the industry was not seriously hampered. After the sandalwood in Fiji was exhausted, they turned their atten tion to the New Hebrides.

So thorough was the collecting of this wood in the Pacific Islands that when Captain Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, visited Fiji in 1840, he found it difficult to obtain herbarium specimens for his botanist; and Berthold Seeman had to base his botanical description of Santalum Yasi on a specimen that the Rev. John Williams had planted in the garden of the Bua Mission Station.

Nowadays there is not much sandal wood left in the South Seas, except in certain parts of the New Hebrides. In quiries as to a market for the product have recently been received in Australia from the Condominium, and it has been ascertained that Sydney merchants for a variety of reasons do not care to handle it. The chief aversion to dealing in sandalwood appears to be that it has to be transhipped to Hong Kong where it remains in store for long periods before it is sold.

Official quotation has been granted by the Melbourne Stock Exchange to 100 fully paid shares of £lO each (issued to the vendors) in Mount Lawson Prospect ing and Option Syndicate N.L., of New Guinea.