WVoumea. 220 
vegetation is not at all luxuriant, in fact, upon the hillsides there 
seems almost nothing at all. 
Noumea, the capital—in fact, the only town in the island, 
has a population of 4000 or 5000 I should think, independently 
of the prisoners and military force. The streets are straight, 
laid out at right angles to one another, and are well made. 
The houses are mostly wooden, with an occasional brick one 
here and there. There are a few very respectable wholesale 
stores, one or two indifferent hotels, a good number of shops, 
a printing office—which produces a weekly paper, a museum, 
government house, one or two other public offices, a R.C. church, 
and two immense barracks a little way out of the town; the 
remainder being private dwellings. The town is, as I said be- 
fore, situated on a bay, and is at the foot of a steep hill, 300 or 
400 feet high, on the top of which is a tower, used as a sema- 
phore station. It commands a splendid view across the reef, 
and far away out to sea. When a vessel is observed in the 
offing, the signal is made and the little pilot-schooner starts off 
to pilot her through the reefs. The bay on which the town lies 
has generally a very lively appearance. When we were there, 
five men-of-war were lying in harbour at one time, besides. 
sundry other crafts. Looking from the bay, the barracks at 
once attract attention, on account of their size and command- 
ing position. There are two buildings—one for infantry, the 
other for artillery. The convicts live upon an island on the op- 
posite side of the bay from Noumea ; and as there are several 
thousands of them, their quarters form quite a town. Every 
morning they cross over, and march through the town in gangs 
to work. They make roads, embankments, fortifications, 
buildings, &c. There is no want of cheap labour in these 
quarters ; in fact, there seems to be a difficulty in employing 
them usefully, for I noticed that they have commenced to cut 
a road through a great hill—a road to nowhere. As amongst 
such a number of men there must naturally be some musicians, 
