INSULAR AUSTRALASIA. 



'293 



high barren peaks of these eruptive masses, stretching for miles along the shore and 

 forming frowning precipices over deep blue water, are very striking objects. They strongly 

 impress the spectator with the conviction that these desolate heights arc Alpine summits 

 resting on some submerged continent. "The impression of lonely desolation," says an 

 observant resident in New Caledonia, " is almost strengthened by a nearer view. From 

 the deathly stillness of their peaks, from the absence of animal life and the. steep inac- 

 cessibility of their sides whose scant vegetation cannot hide the wild masses of ferru- 



CONVICTS WASHING CLOTHES, NEW CALEDONIA. 



Bilious and scoriatic ddbris, or the larger heaps of argillaceous jasper of fantastic shapes 

 and colours scattered about, while the action of water has hollowed out deep furrows 

 on their flanks which form motley stains in strange contrast to the ruddy hue of the 

 mountain itself the mind of the traveller is deeply imbued with an impressive sense of 

 these deep solitudes and awful silences." 



The natural features of other portions of the Island are not so bold, dreen forests 

 break the sombre character of the scenery, and level tracts along the sea-board soften 

 down the outline of the shore. This strip, which averages on the east coast only a 

 few hundred yards in width except in the valleys of the larger rivers, is sometimes 

 seven or eight miles broad on the west coast. The soil is of stratified and metamor- 

 phic formation, showing traces of coal-measures and copper veins, and forming a 

 succession of low, rolling grass-covered hills several hundred feet in height, interspersed 

 with plains of black clay. The aspect of these lowlands fulfills in no way the conven- 

 tional idea of tropical scenery. They cover only a fifth of the whole island, and 

 comprise the only land available for agriculture or pasturage. The rest of the territory 

 is mainly made up of the rugged central mountain chain ; but this has been proved to 

 contain wonderful mineral wealth, tempting enough to attract that enterprise and capital 

 for which the less wild portion of the country offers so small a field. Gold, iron, silver, 



