9. low grade quality, bananas do well in isolated pockets. The coconut does well or reasonably well in many areas and a con- siderable part of the island is given over to them to produce copra for means to meet taxes and increasing wants of European goods, and food. Especially the latter as they have to depend on the latter to supply their wants at times of distress or failure of crops and bad seasons and to balance rations at off seasons. Native wild fruits and foods are almost entirely lack- ing. Breadfruits only growing passable well on the sand deposit banks and a few other small areas elsewhere. Copper has been tried as a money producer but without success so far. Because of mission influence and general poverty of natives, a wise system of increasing coconut area cultivation has been followed and today the bulk of Uvea natives are the wealthiest natives of the Loyalties though they are subject to heavy drainage of resources by lack of natural foods, government taxes and large scale mission schemes of church buildings etc. A decrease is noticeable in the Catholic communities but a large increase in the Protestant communities keeps the population fairly static. The Protestants keep a qualified nurse on the island who runs a first class medical service which is attended by numbers of Catholics also. The community at present is about evenly divided between the two faiths but generally speaking the Protestants appear much more progressive and show more initiative as they appear to be carrying on the policy, (which all were previously compelled by authority to do) of plant- ing a certain area under coconuts each year. The Catholics appear to have mostly dropped back and discontinued this practice since compulsion has ceased. This community division has some influence on bird life as generally speaking, the Catholics are