LATE DISCOVERIES. 565 



found it to be an island, and sailed through a strait which divides it 

 from New Guinea. Captain Carteret, in his voyage round the world s 

 in 1767, found it was of much less extent than it was till then imagin- 

 ed to be, by sailing through another strait to the north, which sepa- 

 rates it from a long island, to which he gave the name of New 

 Ireland. There are many high hilis in New Britain, and it abounds 

 with large and stately trees. To the eastward of New Britain, and 

 in both the above straits, are many islands, most of which are said 

 to be extremely fertile, and to abound with plantains and cocoa-nut 

 trees. 



New Ireland extends in length, from the north-east to the south- 

 west, about two hundred and seventy miles, but is in general very 

 narrow. It abounds with a variety of trees and plants, and with 

 many pigeons, parrots, rooks, and other birds. The inhabitants are 

 black and woolly-headed, like the negroes of Guinea, but have not 

 their flat noses and thick lips. North-westward of New Ireland, a 

 cluster of islands was seen by captain Carteret, lying very near 

 each other, and supposed to consist of twenty or thirty in number. 

 One of these, which is of very considerable extent, was named New 

 Hanover ; the rest of the cluster received the name of the Admi- 

 ralty Islands. 



THE PELEW ISLANDS. 



The existence and situation of these islands were probably known 

 to the Spaniards at a distant period ; but from a report among the 

 neighbouring islands, of their being inhabited by a savage race of 

 cannibals, it appears that there never had been the least communica- 

 tion between them and any of the Europeans, till the Antelope packet 

 (belonging to the East-India company) was wrecked on one of them, 

 in August 1783. From the accounts given of these islands, by cap- 

 tain Wilson, who commanded the packet, it appears that they are 

 situate between the 5th and 9th degrees north latitude, and between 

 130 and 136 degrees of east longitude from Greenwich, and lie in a 

 N. E. and S VV. direction They are long but narrow, of a moderate 

 height, and well covered with wood ; the climate temperate and agree- 

 able ; the lands produce sugar-cane, yams, cocoa-nuts, plantains, bana- 

 nas, oranges, and lemons ; and the surrounding seas abound with the 

 finest and greatest variety of fish. 



The natives of these islands are a stout, well-made people, above 

 the middle stature : their complexions are of a far deeper colour than 

 what is understood by the Indian copper, but not black. The men 

 go entirely naked, and the women wear only two small aprons, one 

 behind and one before, made of the husks of the cocoa-nut dyed with 

 different shades of yellow. 



The government is monarchical, and the king is absolute, but his 

 power is exercised more with the mildness of a father than a 

 sovereign. In the language of Europeans, he is the fountain of 

 honour ; he occasionally creates his nobles, called Rupacks or chiefs, 

 and confers a singular honour of knighthood, called the Order of the 



Vol. II. 4 C 



