POLYNESIA.

POLYNESIA, the region of many islands (from the Greek polys, many, and nesos, an island), is the general name given to the islands in the Pacific. In its widest signification, it embraces the whole of the Pacific islands to the east and north of Australia, with the exception of the East Indian Islands to the west of New Guinea.

Both New Zealand and New Guinea are true Polynesian islands, but the former forms an integral part of Australasia, a term which is now generally used to denote the British possessions to the south-east of Asia, and thus includes not only Australia and Tasmania, but also New Zealand, Fiji, and British New Guinea. New Zealand has therefore been described under Australasia; but, as British New Guinea is only a part of the island of that name, and seeing that the Fiji Islands are separated from Australia by New Caledonia and other islands, both these colonies are more conveniently dealt with under Melanesia, a subdivision of Polynesia, to which they geographically belong.

Most of the smaller islands and island groups of the Pacific are either of coral formation or of volcanic origin, and many of them are partly coral and partly volcanic.

The Coral Islands are by far the most numerous. They consist, with few exceptions, of low reefs, raised only a few feet above the level of the sea, and in many cases hardly on a higher level than that reached by the flood tide. They owe their formation to the labours of the coral insect, a species of zoophyte, which builds up to the level of the ocean the stony matter formed by its own secretions. When once the surface of the scu is reached, the coral spreads laterally, but the labours of this most wonderful of Nature's architects are no longer continued in a vertical direction, for water is necessary to its existence. It is found that the coral insect cannot exist at a greater depth than from 20 to 30 fathoms, so that the numerous coral reefs of the Pacific and other seas are based upon submarine rocks.

Most of the coral islands are semicircular in shape, with a lagoon of still water enclosed between the inner curve of the semicircle and the reef which connects its extremities. A few of them form complete circles with enclosed lagoons. One or more openings invariably occur in the reef, through which vessels can enter the lagoon, and ride in safety while storms rage in the outer

ocean.

The Volcanic Islands of Polynesia are not so numerous as the true coral islands, but many of them are of much greater extent, and also, of course, much loftier, rising in many cases to a height of several thousand feet above the level of the sea. Many of these volcanic islands are surrounded by coral reefs, which render the approach to them difficult and often dangerous.

The climate of all the true oceanic islands is one of the most delightful in the world. The heat of the Torrid Zone is here tempered by the influence of the vast surrounding ocean, and the temperature undergoes little variation throughout the year, and an almost uniform serenity of atmosphere prevails.

This vast island-world possesses some productions that are peculiar to itself. the most important of them being the bread-fruit tree, which yields the "staff of life" to the natives. The banana, cocoa-nut, yam, taro, sweet potato, and

arrowroot are common to these islands and to those of the Indian Seas

The

sugar-cane, vine, orange, and other fruits of warm latitudes all flourish, and the cultivation of cotton, tobacco, and other commercial products could be immensely extended. None of the larger animals are found in the smaller islands, with the exception of the pig and other domestic animals introduced by Europeans. But the region is wonderfully rich in birds and insects. Many of the birds are gorgeously coloured-the marvellously exquisite birds-of-paradise are probably the most beautiful of all birds.

DIVISIONS: The Pacific Islands, generally included under the term Polynesia, may be subdivided into three great groups-Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia Proper-according to the race of people inhabiting them.

Melanesia, or "the islands of the blacks "(from the Greek, melas, black, and mesos, an island) includes New Guinea, and the islands extending thence to the Fiji Islands inclusive. The people are of a mixed Mahori' and Papuan stock-the pure Papuan race is limited to the interior and western part of New Guinea.

Micronesia, "the little islands" (from the Greek, mikros, small, and nesos, an island), includes the small islands in the Western Pacific to the north of the Equator, and peopled by a race intermediate between the pure Mahori and Malayan races, with Japanese, Chinese, and perhaps Papuan and Negrito elements.

Polynesia Proper, which includes all the remaining islands of the Pacific, are peopled by a brown race-the Mahori (popularly called Polynesians or South Sea Islanders) akin to the Micronesian and Malayan races.

... Except along the coasts of the larger and in some of the smaller islands, where they have been brought under the political or religious influence of Europeans, the Melanesians are savages, almost constantly at war, and inveterate cannibals. The Micronesians, on the other hand, are "the most mildly disposed of all the islanders of the globe," while the Mahoris, or brown Polynesians, are a fine race, extremely handsome, and physically, if not mentally, equal to the average European. Christianity has long since taken a firm hold in many of the islands, and the natives are in an advanced state of civilization, but their numbers are diminishing so rapidly that their total extinction as a pure race can only be a question of time.

MELANESIA.

The Melanesian Islands and island-groups extend from New Guinea on the west to the Fiji Islands on the east, and include New Guinea, with its surrounding islands, the Bismarck Archipelago, the Solomon Islands, the Santa Cruz Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, the Loyalty Islands, and the Fiji Islands.

NEW GUINEA lies to the north of Australia, between the East Indian Seas on the west and the Pacific on the cast, while its southern shores are washed by the Arafura Sea, Torres Straitthe narrowest part of which is only 90 miles in width-and the

1. A term used instead of the popular but misleading term Polynesian.

Coral Sea. According to the most recent surveys, this vast island -the largest in the world next to Australia and Greenland-bas an extreme length from north-west to south-east of about 1,550 miles, and a breadth varying, in the middle portion, from 200 to 400 miles, and a total area of over 300,000 square miles. But the population, at the outside, is not more than 1 million.

In shape, New Guinea is most irregular, and its south-eastern and northwestern extremities are long, narrow peninsulas. To the east of Torres Strait, the coast forms a deep bight, called the Gulf of Papua or the Great Bight of New Guinea; thence it trends south-east nearly to the 151st meridian. To the west of Torres Strait, the coast trends generally north-west, unbroken by any considerable openings. The north-western peninsula is, however, deeply indented, and is almost cut in two by McCluer Inlet. On the northern coast is the vast inlet of Geelvink Bay, which lies between the north-western peninsula and the main portion of the island. Astrolabe Bay and Huon Gulf are smaller openings on the east coast.

Both the northern and south-eastern coasts are bold and rocky, with lofty mountains in the background. In other parts, and especially along the western side of the Gulf of Papua, it is flat and marshy, covered with dense forests, and intersected with innumerable fresh-water channels. The loftiest known mountains in the island are the Owen Stanley Range, in the south-east, in which Mount Victoria attains a height of 13,121 feet; the Charles Louis Mountains, in the north-west, one peak in which is estimated to be 16,730 feet above the sea; and the much loftier Finisterre Mountains, in Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, which attain in Mount Schopenhauer, or Disraeli, an elevation of upwards of 20,000 feet. The highest mountains in New Guinea, therefore, rise above the limit of perpetual snow, which in these latitudes is at an elevation of about 16,400 feet.

In an island with such an excessively humid climate as New Guinea, deluged, as it is, by monsoon rains for half the year, the rivers are extremely numerous, and two of them have been ascended for hundreds of miles inland. These are the Fly River, which forms a vast delta on the western side of the Gulf of Papua, and the Kaiserin Augusta, which debouches on the northern coast. Several other smaller rivers, such as the Douglas, the Queen's Jubilee, the Goldie, &c., to the east of the Fly, have been traced inland for some distance, but the density of the forests, the hostility of the natives, many of whom are savage cannibals, and the enervating effects of the climate, have greatly hindered the exploration of this vast island. Many attempts have been made to cross the island from south to north, but all have failed. Sir William Macgregor, the late Lieutenant-Governor of British New Guinea, has, however, made severa. journeys into the interior, both east and west of Port Moresby, and in June, 1889, succeeded in reaching the Owen Stanley Range, the highest peak of which he ascended and named Mount Victoria.

The climate of New Guinea contrasts strongly with that of Australia, and, according to Sir Peter Scratchley, must be considered one of its greatest drawbacks. In the first place, it is enervating, and Europeans are incapable during the summer of performing much continuous labour; and, secondly, the fever, which is everywhere prevalent, is of a severe character.' It seems not im

1. Sir Peter Scratchley, the first Administrator | coast in 1884, a few days after he had entered upo of British New Guinea, himself fell a victim to the his duties. malarial fever, while cruising off the north-east

probable that in proportion as the settlement advances and the soil is worked, so the pestilential character of the climate will become modified. In the dry season, it is comparatively healthy; in the wet season, Europeans are prostrated by the fever, which is fatal to many. The coast is very unhealthy, even to the natives; the higher uplands are more salubrious.

The natural productions are as yet imperfectly known, as, with the exception of comparatively small patches cleared by the natives, the whole country is overgrown with dense forests. Much of the timber is of gigantic size, and there seems to be an abundant supply of cedar, india-rubber, sandal-wood, ebony, hardwood, and other trees which will, in time to come, yield valuable products for export. The natives cultivate, with more or less success, rice, maize, yams, cocoa-nuts, sago, sugar-cane, bananas, and other tropical productions. The hills immediately surrounding Port Moresby are dotted with plantations of bananas and yams, and, besides the products of their gardens, the natives have the cocoa-nut, the native mango, the bread-fruit, and other food plants. The available commercial products are the sago-palm, the sugar-cane, cocoa-nuts, and native flax, and (in the interior) tobacco.

The mineral resources of the island are but little known, but it seems improbable that any considerabie deposits of gold will be found on the main island. Gold was found at Sudest Island, in the Louisiade Archipelago, in 1888, and a considerable amount was obtained, but, according to the latest reports, goldmining there is in its decadence, and few miners remain at Sudest or on the adjoining island of St. Aignan. Coal, plumbago, and other minerals are said to exist, but nothing definite is known.

The zoology of New Guinea is better known than its botany or its mineralogy. With the exception of a peculiar species of wild pigs and also a few peculiar mice, the mammalia are marsupials, the most remarkable being a tree-climbing kangaroo. Other kangaroos, with the wallaby, dingo, and ant-eater, similar to those of Australia, are also found. Alligators abound in the creeks and rivers, and there are several species of snakes, two of them venomous. The birds comprise "a larger proportion of beautiful and gorgeously-coloured species than are to be found in any other country. About 20 species of birds-of-paradise have been discovered, and an immense variety of kingfishers, parrots, and pigeons, including the most beautiful and remarkable of their kind. Insects vie in beauty and novelty with the birds, and offer an immense abundance of strange forms and gorgeous hues, which are specially manifested among the butterfly and beetle tribes."1

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The inhabitants of New Guinea are known as Papuans, a name derived from a Malay word papûwah, meaning woolly-haired," or 'frizzled," which accurately describes the huge frizzled-out mop of hair that constitutes the pride and glory of the Papuan. Although the natives in different parts of the island, and even in the same community, differ in feature and colour, yet Wallace, D'Albertis, and other ethnologists regard them all as belonging to the one race. There is a considerable Malayan element, no doubt, in some parts along the coast, but the true black Papuan is a very different being to the brown Malay, and, in physical conformation, moral characteristics, and intellectual capacity, the two races offer remarkable differences and striking contrasts. "The Malay," says Wallace, is of short stature, brown-skinned, straight-haired, beardless, and smooth-bodied. The Papuan is taller, black-skinned, frizzly. haired, bearded, and hairy-bodied. The former is broad-faced, has a small nose, and flat eyebrows; the latter is long-faced, has a large and prominent

1. A. R. Wallace.

2. The Malay Archipelago, p. 587.

nose, and projecting eyebrows. The Malay is bashful, cold, undemonstrative, and quiet; the Papuan is bold, impetuous, excitable, and noisy. The former is grave, and seldom laughs; the latter is joyous and laughter-loving; the one conceals his emotions, the other displays them."

DIVISIONS: The western half of New Guinea is claimed by Holland; the north-eastern portion, together with the Bismarck Archipelago, forms a German Protectorate; while the southeastern portion is a British Crown Colony.

DUTCH NEW GUINEΑ.

DUTCH NEW GUINEA includes the whole of the island to the west of the 141st meridian E., and the Bensbach River. It has an area of about 150,000 square miles, and a population of perhaps 240,000.

The name New Guinea was given to the island by a Spanish navigator who touched at several points on the coast in 1546, and in 1606 the Spaniard, Torres, passed through the strait which still bears his name. Thenceforward, for more than 200 years, nearly all the explorations of the western coasts of the island were made by the Dutch, but no attempt was made to establish a single station on the coast until 1827, when a small settlement was made at Triton Bay, but it was soon abandoned, and, since then, the Dutch have practically done nothing to develop their portion of the island.

GERMAN NEW GUINEA.

The Imperial Protectorate of GERMAN NEW GUINEA includes the north-eastern division of the island, now called Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, and extends over the Bismarck Archipelago, and the northern Solomon Islands (Bougainville and Buka).

Kaiser Wilhelm's Land, evidently the most favoured portion of New Guinea, was declared a German Protectorate in 1884; it has an area of 72,000 square miles, and a population of over 100,000. The commercial development of this territory and the other German possessions in this region has been entrusted to the German New Guinea Company, and tobacco, coffee, cotton, and cocoa are cultivated on the stations on the Astrolabe plains, and horses, cattle, and goals flourish on the rich natural pastures. HERBERTSHÖHE is the seat of government for the whole Protectorate. The Imperial Government took over the administration, in 1899, from the company.

There are several good harbours along the coast, and at least one magnificent river-the Kaiserin Augusta-which was ascended by the Governor in a steamer drawing 12% feet of water for about 320 miles inland. A bar, with 11 feet of water, put a stop to further progress, but a steam launch was taken 80 miles further, that is within 50 miles of the Dutch boundary. There is no bar at the mouth of this fine river.

The climate is tropical, and the rainfall very heavy, amounting on an average to about 100 to 110 inches a year.

BRITISH NEW GUINEA.

(THE TERRITORY OF PAPUA.)

BRITISH NEW GUINEA, which includes the south-eastern part of the island, is a Crown Colony. It has an area of 90,540 square miles, and a population of less than half-a-million, including about 400 Europeans.