INTRODUCTION. xi 



cessive annual rainfall, the humid atmosphere, together with 

 the enervating season of the north-west monsoon, are amongst 

 the chief evils of the climate. Malarious districts can be 

 readily avoided by shunning the low-lying damp districts on 

 the lee sides of islands. Dysentery is rare on account of the 

 general purity of the water. But, if we believe native testi- 

 mony, which I have found most reliable and which in this 

 instance agrees with my own, the streams draining calcareous 

 regions are least liable to suspicion. Sliould an intending 

 settler ask me whether the climate is suitable for the European, 

 I would reply that with proper precautions as to his habits 

 and the selection of a site, the white-man can here preserve 

 his health as well as in most other tropical islands in these 

 latitudes. 



I will conclude this introduction with some remarks on 

 the vexed question of making annexations and forming pro- 

 tectorates in the Western Pacific. From the eagerness of 

 our Australian colonies to control them and of France and 

 Germany to possess them, the presumption arises that the 

 islands in this region are worth holding. Yet, how surprising 

 have been the changes within the last four years ! When 

 in 1882 T was m the Solomon Islands, British influence was 

 recognised as paramount in New Guinea and throughout the 

 Western Pacific. At the present time the British flag has been 

 almost squeezed out of the Western Pacific. In April of 

 this year (1886), the British and German Governments came 

 to an arrangement by which the northern side of New 

 Guinea together with New Britain, New Ireland, and the 

 adjacent western half of the Solomon Group passed under 

 the protection, or in other words into the practical posses- 

 sion, of Germany ; whilst Great Britain by this arrangement 

 was to consider the remainino; islands of the Western Pacific 

 and the south coast of New Guinea as her sphere of action. 

 It is only in New Guinea that Great Britain has exercised 

 her right. Among;st the remainina; islands of the Western 

 Pacific she has little scope either for acquiring territory or 

 for establishing a protectorate. France possesses New Cale- 

 donia and in a geographical sense she can clami not only 

 the Loyalty Islands but the New Hebriles Group. There 

 only remains then for Great Britain the Santa Cruz Islands 

 and the adjacent eastern half of the Solomon Group, in 

 which, if she chooses, she can exercise her rights without 

 dispute. 



England's wisest policy in the Western Pacific is to 



