With the native Fijian population tied to the villages, labor for an expanding plantation system was wanting, and Gordon turned to a
practice he knew from his earlier governing experiences drawing in
migration from other British colonies, particularly India. The first
shipload of indentured laborers arrived in 1879. Over the next forty
years, 60,000 Indians made landfall in Fiji to work off a girmit, or
agreement. This meant five years of brutal servitude, and then another
five years of labor for a subsidized ticket home to India. For many, Fiji
instead became home. How would I annotate this?