432 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGEAPHY AXD TRAVEL 



New Hanover is probably about 40 miles by 20 in 

 area, but its coast-line is unsurveyed and the interior 

 practically unknown, the natives being very hostile. It 

 has high mountains, and is apparently very fertile, with 

 many rivers, rich valleys, and plains. The people are 

 said to be of the same race as those of New Ireland. 



New Ireland was thought by Dampier to be part of 

 New Britain, but Philip Carteret proved its insularity in 

 1767. The island is long and very narrow, its length 

 being 240 miles and its width on an average about 15 

 only. The western end is low and flat, but proceeding 

 eastward the land rises, until, both on the north and 

 south sides, the coast is very bold and abrupt, with 

 mountains of some height in the interior. A neck of 

 low land now succeeds, after which mountains again 

 occur, reaching in about lat. 4° S. a height of 7000 

 feet. Their summits are very jagged and precipitous, 

 1 )ut to what extent these and the other ranges are volcanic 

 is uncertain. In the mountains in the middle of the 

 island chalks and sandstones lie in alternate strata. The 

 shape and conformation of New Ireland preclude the 

 existence of anything but small streams ; yet the popula- 

 tion is largely agricultural, and in many parts very 

 dense, although the people chiefly live by the seashore. 

 From Count Joachim Pfeil's account it seems as if an 

 immigration from the Gazelle Peninsula to the middle 

 part of New Ireland had taken place, which inserted 

 itself like a wedge between the aborigines, for in appear- 

 ance, language, and customs the people of that district 

 resemble those of New Britain, and differ from the 

 natives of the rest of the island. The latter are small 

 men, neatly built, lively and cunning, while the inhabit- 

 ants of the Gazelle Peninsula and central New Ireland 

 are tall, powerful, and full-bodied. Among the peculiar 



