THE NEW HEBRIDES 451 



extinction. Copra is the chief product of all the islands, 

 but coffee, sugar-cane, nutmegs, and sago have been 

 grown with more or less success. 



The northern group of the New Hebrides is more 

 compact, and is composed of about thirty-five islands, 

 some of which are of considerable size. At the north 

 are the Banks Islands, forming a separate group, and 

 memorable as having been discovered by Bligh during 

 his passage to Timor in the open boat in which he was 

 set adrift by the mutineers of the Bounty. Of this group 

 the two chief islands are Vanua Lava and Santa Maria 

 or G-aua Island. The natives are for the most part of a 

 friendly disposition, and diff'er in many ways from those 

 of the rest of the New Hebrides. The New Caledonian 

 Company has stations on some of the islands, and coffee, 

 maize; nutmegs, and pepper are grown ; but the most 

 valuable product is rosewood, which appears to be ver}- 

 plentiful. The population is supposed to be about 5000. 

 These and the islands to the south as far as Ambrym 

 form the field of the labours of the Anglican Melanesian 

 Mission. 



The islands constituting the main mass of the 

 archipelago lie directly south of the Banks Islands, and 

 are of considerably larger size. Espiritu Santo, the 

 largest, is nearly 80 miles long; Mallicolo comes next, 

 with a length of 55 miles ; and Aurora, Pentecost, 

 Ambrym, Api, and Vate or Sandwich Island are, roughly 

 speaking, about equal to each other in size, having 

 perhaps an average area of about 250 square miles. 

 Espiritu Santo is heavily wooded, and has mountains of 

 5000 feet, and broad and fertile valleys watered by 

 numberless streams. Its beauty and fertility are indeed 

 most striking, and were greatly extolled by Quiros in 

 his report to Philip III. It was on this island, at the 



