LOUISIADE AECHIPELAGO. 71 



Pariwara Islands and the neig'hbouring headland, 

 with which they were probably once continuous ; 

 near this, too, the barrier reef of the coast ceases at 

 Low Island, which it encloses, althoug'h its hne is 

 continued under water, as a ridge of coral, as far as 

 the South-west Cape, where the coral ends, unless 

 the shoals apparently blocking up the channel south 

 of Yule Island are of the same formation. 



Reference to the outhne chart will enable the 

 reader to follow me in some general remarks which 

 did not properly enter into the narrative. The 

 Louisiade Archipelago, reduced to what I conceive 

 to be its natural hmits, includes that extensive group 

 of islands comprised between the parallels of 10° 40' 

 and 11° 40' S. latitude, and the meridians of 151° 

 and 164° 30' E. longitude. About eight}' are already 

 known, and probably many others remain yet to be 

 discovered in the north-west, a large space there 

 being as yet a blank upon the chart. All the islands 

 of the group, with the exception of the low ones of 

 coral formation to the westward, appear to be in- 

 habited, but probably nowhere very densely, judging 

 from the comparatively small number of natives 

 which we saw, and the cii'cumstance of the patches 

 of cultivation being small and scattered, A^-hile the 

 greater part of the large islands is either covered 

 with dense forest, or exhibits extensi-^e grassy tracts 

 with lines and clumps of trees. Such of the islands 

 as were examined consisted of mica slate, the line of 

 direction of the beds of which is nearly the same as 



