Purruips.— Civilization of the Pacific. 95 
Exclusive of New Guinea, the population of which it is quite impossible to conjecture, 
there cannot be less than 1,200,000 natives in Polynesia. 
The foreign residents are principally European. I do not consider that there are more 
than 20,000 whites in the Pacifie, of which number probably 10,000 are in New Caledonia. 
The total of the imports amounts to £557,829, and exports, £598,215. Add to these 
sums the imports and exports of the Tongan Archipelago, the only remaining group of 
any present commercial importance, also the goods sold by the trading schooners in 
exchange for island produce, and the grand total of imports and exports will not exceed 
£1,450,000 per annum. The supply of the French convict station at New Caledonia can 
hardly be included under a commercial heading. * 
The following table supplies a few statistics concerning other tropical countries ;— 
Area in 
Square | Population. Imports. Exports, 
Miles. 
£ £ 
British possessions in "~ 7 — 
19,988 | 1,089,818 | 5,186,086 | 5,804,093 
Br itish Guiana, 1871 v. x .. | 76,000 193; 491 1,897,183 | 2,748,720 
Mauriti 18 (d de i5 708 316,042 1,807 ,982 3,053,054 
Ceylon, 1872 n ro A .. | 24,454 | 2,405,287 | 5,169,524 | 3,163,1 
Java, 1871 .. a n c .. | 51,336 | 17,298,200 | 4,213,428 | 7,459,735 
Phillipine Islands + ii Re .. | 65,100 | 4,319,269 a i 
In comparison with these figures, the result of my calculations and approximations 
may be given as follows :— " 
Area in 
Square | Population. | Imports. Exports. 
Miles. 
| £ £ 
Pacific Islands .. Me vs .. | 98,000 | 1,200,000 100,000 150,000 
New Guinea M i» s .. 1260,000 is os AN 
It will therefore be seen that the Pacific Islands, possessing a superficial area of five 
times the extent of our possessions in the West Indies, and a greater population, do not 
at present consume one-eighth of the amount annually imported by those islands. { 
* In 1874 New Caledonia imported £503,263 and exported £95,598. 
} In 1871 the Phillipine Islands exported to Great Britain alone £1,391,254, and imported 
£463,359 
t It is important to note that, in speaking of the West Indies, I only refer to the British 
possessions, 
