POLYNESIA. 5 



Under proper cultivation it would be capable of supporting a dense 

 population. Eua is a high island, about half the size of Tonga. The 

 Habai cluster, sixty miles north-northeast of Tonga, consists of a great 

 number of small coral islands, of which the principal are Lefuka and 

 Namuka. There are also two high islands, Kao and Tofua; on the 

 latter of which is a volcano. Sixty miles further to the north is 

 Hafulu Hau, which consists of the large high island of Vavau, and a 

 number of small coral islands. The population of the whole Friendly 

 or Tonga Group is probably about eighteen thousand, of which nearly 

 half belong to the island of Tonga. 



3. New Zealand is an extensive insular territory, eight hundred 

 miles in length from northeast to southwest, and averaging eighty 

 miles in width. It is divided into nearly equal parts by Cook's Strait, 

 a channel forty miles wide, and a similar passage separates, at its 

 southern end, a smaller division called Stewart's Island. The whole 

 group is supposed to contain not less than seventy thousand square 

 miles. The natives have no general name for it, and those given by 

 Cook for the two principal divisions are only partially applicable. 

 Te Vai Pounamu means, "The Water of Jade," and is properly the 

 name of a lake in the northern island, near which this stone is found. 

 He ahi no Maui means, "The Offspring of Maui," and is sometimes 

 employed by the natives in allusion to the prevalent belief that their 

 island was produced by the god Maui. The population is supposed 

 not to exceed one hundred and fifty thousand, of which nearly all are 

 on the northern island. 



4. The Society Islands. This is a group composed of two clusters, 

 of which the eastern was originally termed the Georgian, and the 

 western the Society Islands. They are both commonly included, at 

 present, under the latter name. The eastern cluster comprises Tahiti, 

 and the smaller islands of Aimeo (or Moorea), Tetuaroa, Tapuaemanu, 

 and Metia. In the western are Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa, and Pora- 

 pora, all of nearly the same size, besides three or four smaller islands. 

 The longitude of Tahiti, the island from which the whole group some- 

 times takes its name, is 149 30' W., and its latitude 17 30' S. It is 

 one hundred and eight miles in circumference, and contains about 

 eight thousand inhabitants. The population of the whole group is 

 estimated at eighteen or twenty thousand. 



5. The Hervey Islands are situated ten degrees from the Society 

 Group, in a west-southwest direction, or between 155 and 160 of 

 west longitude, and 19 and 22 of south latitude. They are seven 



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