INDIAN OCEAN. 239 



connected on the one hand with New Holland, and with the Po- 

 lonesian archipelago on the other. Of this extensive chain we 

 know nothing except the line of coast, and, unfortunately, even of 

 that but little. The length of this country cannot be much short 

 of 1200 miles, and from 15 to 360 in width. This country is 

 called Papua, or the country of the Papoos, a name by which the 

 inhabitants are known among the Malays. It is from these islands 

 that birds of Paradise are procured, of which there are known to 

 be not less than twelve species. 



St. David and Freewill islands form the most natural transition 

 from New Guinea to Polynesia, or Eastern Oceanica ; and what 

 is strange, these islands are inhabited by a race entirely different 

 from the Papua, being of a copper colour, and in language re- 

 sembling the Sandwich islands 



Leaving the Molucca sea, next comes the Pelew islands, called 

 by the early navigators Palaos. The inhabitants are naturally an 

 amiable, gay, and innocent people, of middling size, and by no 

 means bad looking. They lie between 133 and 136 E., and 

 from 6 to 8 N. 



To the north of the Pelew islands are those called Matetotes, 

 Martyrs, Sagaoadiahh, &e. 



The groups of St. Andrew, Pedeo, Warwick, &c., stretch off to 

 the south, and are but imperfectly known. 



Turning to the northeast from the Pelew islands, we find the 

 Marian .group, consisting of neat twenty in number. These islands 

 are of ancient discovery, by Magellan, in 1621, and called by, him 

 Ladrones, but were afterward, under Philip IV., changed to the 

 present name in honour of Mary Ann of Austria. They extend 

 from 13 to 22 N., and from 145 35' to 148 E.. 



To the north of Marian islands are different groups, of which 

 nothing is known except that they are volcanic. 



What is known, even at this late day, of the Caroline islands? 

 Nothing, except that this archipelago lies between the Pescadores 



