INSULAR A US TR, I LA SI. 1 . 



'239 



ulcerous sores. They soon became disorganized, and nothing but work absolutely neces- 

 sary for safety or shelter was attempted. Several attempts were made to get to the 

 Mission Station at Port Hunter; and at length a party of three men succeeded in 

 reaching the house of the teacher at New Ireland, who brought them across to the 

 Mission Station. A relief party was at once organized, which found the colonists in a 

 state of great misery and suffering, and in a short time about forty-five of the people 

 were landed at the Mission Station. The resources of the establishment were most 

 severely taxed by this large influx, especially as most of them were sick and required 



SHELLING A NATIVE VILLAGE IN THE SOUTH SEAS. 



great attention. Seven of them died on the Station, a few engaged themselves as 

 traders, and the remainder were taken back to New Ireland, and thence to Sydney. 

 Several other vessels containing large numbers of Italians and persons of other nationali- 

 ties followed, but no permanent settlement was made, and the wild bush has again 

 taken possession of the few plots of land which were cleared by the luckless colonists 

 of these unfortunate expeditions. The principal trading stations now existing in the 

 New Britain Group are those of Messrs. Hernsheim and Co. on Matupit, Mrs. Forsaith 

 on Ralaun, and the German South Sea Land and Plantation Company, whose head 

 station is on Meoko, in the Duke of York Group. Large quantities of copra, tortoise- 

 shell and other South Sea Island products are collected and exported from the Group, 

 but no trustworthy statistics can at present be obtained. 



THE SOLOMON GROUP. 



" T^HIS fine Group lies between five degrees and ten degrees fifty-three minutes south 

 * latitude, and one hundred and fifty-four degrees thirty minutes and one hundred 

 and sixty-two degrees twenty-eight minutes east longitude. It consists of a double chain 

 of islands extending for over six hundred miles, most of which are yet imperfectly 

 surveyed, whilst the interior is very little known. The principal islands in the south 

 chain are Santa Anna, San Christoval, Guadalcanal Savo, Russell Island and the Short- 



