452 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



head of St. Philip Bay, that he established his settlement 

 " New Jerusalem," on the banks of a stream to which 

 he gave the name of the " Jordan." It was fore- 

 doomed to failure, and his settlers had soon to i\y 

 to save their lives from the malaria and the spears of 

 the natives. Near Cape Cumberland, the northern 

 extremity of the island, are some very curious ruins, the 

 origin of which is still involved in mystery. The 

 buildings are apparently of great size, monolithic pillars, 

 ruined walls, and masses of cemented masonry being 

 scattered over a plain of about three miles in extent. A 

 second and apparently similar site occurs at a place 

 about five miles distant. These ruins have been by 

 some attributed to the Spaniards, but probably on quite 

 insuhicient grounds, and it seems more reasonable to 

 suppose that, in common with the remains on the 

 Ladrones, Carolines, and other islands, they were con- 

 structed by some pre-existing race, who have left no 

 other trace behind them, but who may have been, 

 conjecturally, an early immigrating Caucasian people 

 from Indo-China. Of the remaining islands, Vate is 

 perhaps best known to Europeans. It has large planta- 

 tions, some of which are the property of French com- 

 panies formed in New Caledonia. 



All the New Hebrides are volcanic, but there are a 

 few small outlying coral-reef islands. Numerous extinct 

 craters exist in all the islands, but the peaks of Ambrym 

 and Lopevi, and Mount Yasowa in Tanna, are active, and 

 Vanua Lava sub-active, with thermal springs. Captain 

 Cyprian Bridge describes the southern islands as being 

 the most varied in scenery, Erromanga and Sandwich 

 having step-like terraces faced with precipitous bluffs of 

 coralline limestone, and stretches of open grass land. 

 Good harbours are scarce in the archipelago, which is a 



