THE SANTA GKUZ ISLANDS 447 



and customs and physical appearance. The use of kava, 

 however, together with the existence of chiefs, the custom 

 of tattooing, the construction of small houses, and plank- 

 built boats, are non-Papuan characteristics, and point 

 distinctly to the existence at some period of a Polynesian 

 influence. 



2. The Santa Cruz Islands. 



Lying about 2 00 miles east of the southern islands of 

 the Solomon group, and about the same distance from the 

 nearest of the New Hebrides, are the Santa Cruz or 

 Queen Charlotte Islands, scattered in their distribution, 

 and none of them of large size. They were discovered 

 by Mendana during his second expedition in 1595, and 

 they were not again seen by Europeans until 1767, when 

 Captain Carteret rediscovered them. They have since 

 been visited by many exploring expeditions, and have 

 become memorable as the scene of more than one tragedy. 

 Here La Perouse's expedition came to a sudden and 

 disastrous termination, and Commodore Goodenough and 

 Bishop Patteson were murdered by the natives. All the 

 islands are volcanic, and there are no atolls and few 

 fringing reefs except at Vanikoro. 



The group is composed of the Duff Islands to the 

 north-east, the Matema or Swallow Islands, Santa Cruz 

 (Nitendi), Tupua, Vanikoro, Tinakula or Volcano Island ; 

 while to the south-east are the small and isolated islets, 

 Tukopia, Cherry Island (Anuda), and Mitre Island 

 (Fataka). Santa Cruz, from which the group takes its 

 name, is about 1 6 miles long, is densely wooded and well 

 watered, but the natives until recently bore the worst of 

 characters. Here Carteret lost his pilot and boat's crew 

 by the treachery of tlie people, and Commodore Good- 



