INSULAR AUSTRALASIA. 



289 





the right-hand, and at one end is a clock-tower built of shingles the gift of a visitor. 



liryoncl arc the missionaries' quarters, and 

 the buildings occupied by the natives. 

 Altogether the Mission appears a pretty 

 anil pleasant place, and the good work 

 done throughout the Islands of the South 

 Seas attests its usefulness. 



Lord Howe's Island is the southern- 

 most of the outlying islands on the east 

 coast of Australia. It is only five and 

 a half miles long by one and a half across, 

 and in one part only a quarter of a mile 

 wide. The few families who live here 

 grow plentiful stores of provisions, and 

 are bountifully supplied with fish all round 

 their coast. The country is mountainous, 

 the most prominent object being the double 

 mountain at the south end, the highest 

 point being Mount Gower, two thousand 

 eight hundred and thirty-four feet high. 

 The summit of this abruptly rising Moun- 

 tain is a plateau, having a small lake in 

 the centre, surrounded with bush full of 

 wild pigs and goats. The vegetation of 

 the Island is quite tropical, cabbage-palms 

 and banyan-trees abounding, while bananas, 

 oranges and Indian corn grow well. 



NEW CALEDONIA. 



XT E\V CALEDONIA commands 

 * ^ a special interest for the peo- 

 ple of Australasia, inasmuch as it is 

 the foreign possession that lies near- 

 est to our shores. The territory 

 was one of the many discoveries of 

 Captain Cook, who landed there on 

 his cruise of 1 776, and named the 

 Island in the same spirit that dic- 

 tated the name of Eastern Australia, 

 from its real or fancied resemblance 

 to some portion of the Scottish sea- 

 board familiar to his own earlier ex- 

 periences. For many years the Island 



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