NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 487 



being 45 miles long by about 7 broad. Like IJossel and 

 St. Aignan islands, it is composed of the older rocks, and 

 has produced a considerable amount of gold, but the 

 field is now worked out. When the rush was at its 

 height in 1889, some hundreds of diggers were at work, 

 and the island is in consequence completely explored. 

 St. Aignan is 25 miles long, and has an area of over 100 

 square miles. It differs from all the islands of the 

 group in having no protecting reef, and the natives are 

 not expert fishermen as are the other inhabitants of the 

 Louisiades. It rises to a height of 3400 feet, and is 

 extraordinarily broken and rugged, being intersected 

 by numerous very deep and narrow gorges. The mass 

 of the island is apparently composed of schists and slates, 

 and a gold-field was opened after the failure of Sudest, 

 but met with a similar fate, the metal being rapidly 

 exhausted. The natives are head-hunters, but apparently 

 not cannibals. 



The D'Entrecasteaux Islands are three in number — 

 Normanby, Fergusson, and Goodenough — none of which 

 are surrounded by reefs. All are peopled by head- 

 hunters, and the last mentioned island is conspicuous as 

 the only one where fairly amicable intertribal relations 

 exist. Normanby is 45 miles long, irregular in shape 

 and mountainous, its highest peak 3600 feet. It is 

 thickly populated, as are the others. Traces of gold and 

 tin have been found. Fergusson, the central island, is 

 about the same length, bvit much larger, having an area 

 of over 500 square miles. It is volcanic, very fertile, 

 and well inhabited. The highest peak. Mount Kilkerran, 

 is believed to be about 5000 feet. A description of the 

 solfataras and hot springs which abound on the western 

 side of the island has been given on a previous page. 

 Goodenough Island, though not more than 23 miles in 



