Appearance of New Caledonta. 215 
their detention, and at the shattered hull of their old vessel now 
disappearing in the distance. 
On Friday we reached Maré, and there landed the teachers, 
and next morning sighted the great island of New Caledonia. 
It appeared as a long range of blue mountains extending far 
across the line of vision, getting fainter towards the extremities 
until it disappeared on either side. All that day we sailed 
towards it, and when evening came were near enough to make 
out the cocoanut palms and pine trees which fringed the coast. 
The hills were generally of a reddish hue, and had rather a 
barren appearance. Altogether the land had a very different 
look from the islands of the New Hebrides, the vegetation be- 
ing much less luxuriant. Next morning (Sunday) we were off 
Havannah Pass—an entrance through the long line of reef, op- 
posite the south end of the island; and with a man at the 
masthead to direct the steersman, we ran through into the still 
water of an extensive reef-enclosed lagoon. As we coasted 
along the shores, making for Noumea, which lies on the south-east 
side of the island, we caught a glimpse of the Isle of Pines away 
towards the south, rising dimly on the horizon, like a pale blue 
haystack. Several small islands, thickly covered with pines, 
dotted the surface of the lagoon, and the varying depths gave 
a multitude of colours and shades of colour to the water, from 
the lightest green to the deepest blue. The shores of the island 
sometimes appeared as gentle grassy slopes, clad with pines 
and other timber ; sometimes as great black beetling cliffs, over 
which small streams burst in white spray. 
‘* A land of streams ! some, like a downward smoke, 
Slow dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go.” 
Then we sailed through a narrow passage between the main- 
land and a high island; gliding down its twisted course, under 
the force of the current rather than of the wind, which had al- 
most died away. Here and there we passed lagoons that ran 
