1246 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



" Voyages." Little was added to the geography of the New Hebrides till Captain 

 Helcher, in II. MS. Sitlplnir, sailed among them in 1840, and Captain (afterwards 

 Admiral) Erskine, in 1849, discovered Havannah Harbour. Captain Denham, in H.M.S. 

 Herald, made a surveying cruise in 1833-4, of which the charted results proved of great 

 value to succeeding voyagers. 



The New Hebrides are volcanic islands, though situated between two of the largest 

 coral groups. Volcanoes must have existed on almost all, as several show burnt-out 

 craters, and all have volcanic rock. There are still three active volcanoes. Sailing from 

 the south, the volcano on Tanna is a conspicuous object, with its pillar of cloud by- 

 day and its pillar of fire by night. It is the light-house to mariners. In the north, 

 the conical Island of Lopevi and the mountainous Island of Ambrym have active 

 volcanoes.* The line of volcanic action is exactly in the direction of the Group, and 

 extends towards Banks Islands. There are fringing reefs of coral on most of the Islands, 

 but no extensive surrounding reef, as the heat from volcanic action is destructive to 

 the coral zoophyte. The volcanic soil is rich and deep, and yields excellent crops of 

 tropical fruits. The yams of Tanna are said to be among the largest in the Pacific. 



There are several excellent harbours in the New Hebrides. In Aneityum there is 

 the harbour of Anelgauhat, which has been surveyed by Her Majesty's ships, and of 

 which a chart has been published. Dillon's Bay, in the north-west of Eromanga, is a 

 safe anchorage. Fila Harbour, in Efate, affords large accommodation, and on the north 

 is Havannah Harbour, a fine sheet of deep water seven miles long and two or three 

 miles broad, almost land-locked by two islands which protect it. The entrance winds 

 between high verdure-clad cliffs, while, farther up, the land lies in densely-wooded flats 

 over which the inland mountains loom in the distance. Its great drawback as a harbour 

 is its extraordinary depth, most of it being about fifty fathoms deep, so that there is 

 practically no anchorage except close in shore. Mallicollo has a good port, and in 

 Espiritu Santo* is St. Philip's Bay, already described. The land rises to a great height 

 on most of the Islands, and mountain ranges, wooded to their peaks, run through them, 

 separated by vales of great beauty and fertility. 



The natives of the New Hebrides are Papuan of a low type, with woolly hair. 

 They present a striking contrast to the natives of Eastern Polynesia both in colour and 

 in hair. They are coffee-coloured. Their manners and customs differ little from those of 

 other Papuans, and even of other Polynesians. The,y were cannibals, and constantly 

 fighting with each other until the missionary operations introduced more humane and 

 pacific life among them. The population has long been rapidly declining by reason of 

 their barbarous practices, their narrow limits of inter-marriage, by disease and deportations 

 by the labour trade. Few children are born, and women are only sixty per cent, to 

 the men. Though the estimate is conjectural, it is believed that there are not quite 

 one hundred thousand in the whole Group. 



The physique of the natives is small, but it improves in advancing towards the 

 north, where also is seen a marked progress in barbaric art, alike in canoes, huts and 

 unglazed pottery. In a few places, as in Futuna, Aniwa and in Fila Harbour, there 

 are evident affinities to more Eastern races with this peculiarity, that the marks now 

 are more in the survival of Eastern forms of speech there than in physical difference. 



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