432 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
New Hanover is probably about 40 miles by 20 in 
area, but its coast-line is unsurveyed and the interior 
practically unknown, the natives being very hostile. It 
has high mountains, and is apparently very fertile, with 
many rivers, rich valleys, and plains. The people are 
said to be of the same race as those of New Ireland. 
New Ireland was thought by Dampier to be part of 
New Britain, but Philip Carteret proved its insularity in 
1767. The island is long and very narrow, its length 
being 240 miles and its width on an average about 15 
only. The western end is low and flat, but proceeding 
eastward the land rises, until, both on the north and 
south sides, the coast is very bold and abrupt, with 
mountains of some height in the interior. A neck of 
low land now succeeds, after which mountains again * 
occur, reaching in about lat. 4° S. a height of 7000 
feet. Their summits are very jagged and precipitous, 
but to what extent these and the other ranges are volcanic 
is uncertain. In the mountains in the middle of the 
island chalks and sandstones lie in alternate strata. The 
shape and conformation of New Ireland preclude the 
existence of anything but small streams; yet the popula¬ 
tion is largely agricultural, and in many parts very 
dense, although the^ people chiefly live by the seashore. 
From Count Joachim PfeiTs account it seems as if an 
immigration from the Gazelle Peninsula to the middle 
part of New Ireland had taken place, which inserted 
itself like a wedge between the aborigines, for in appear¬ 
ance, language, and customs the people of that district 
resemble those of New Britain, and differ from the 
natives of the rest of the island. The latter are small 
men, neatly built, lively and cunning, while the inhabit¬ 
ants of the Gazelle Peninsula and central New Ireland 
are tall, powerful, and full-bodied. Among the peculiar 
