MELANESIA 
CHAPTEE XI 
NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 
Under the name of Melanesia we comprehend all the 
islands and groups of islands stretching from New Guinea 
in the west to Yiti or Fiji in the east; that is to say, the 
domain chiefly occupied by the Papuan race. The series 
begins with New Guinea and its surrounding islands, 
and the Admiralty Isles, New Britain, and New Ireland, 
to the north-east. Proceeding still eastwards, or rather 
to the south-east, we meet with the Solomon Islands, the 
Santa Cruz or Queen Charlotte group, the New Hebrides, 
the French settlements of New Caledonia and the Loyalty 
Islands, and lastly, considerably farther east, the Fiji 
Archipelago. 
The present chapter treats of New Guinea, and the 
islands which are joined to it by a shallow sea, and have 
evidently, at no distant period, formed with it one 
extensive land. 
1. General. 
The great island of New Guinea or Papua stretches 
hi a N.N.W. and S.S.E. direction, beyond the Moluccan 
