NEW GUINEA AND THE PAPUANS 
437 
being 45 miles long by about 7 broad. Like Kossel and 
St. Aignan islands, it is composed of the older rocks, and 
has produced a considerable amount of gold, but the 
field is now worked out. When the rush was at its 
height in 1889, some hundreds of diggers were at work, 
and the island is in consequence completely explored. 
St. Aignan is 2 5 miles long, and has an area of over 100 
square miles. It differs from all the islands of the 
group in having no protecting reef, and the natives are 
not expert fishermen as are the other inhabitants of the 
Louisiades. It rises to a height of 3400 feet, and is 
extraordinarily broken and rugged, being intersected 
by numerous very deep and narrow gorges. The mass 
of the island is apparently composed of schists and slates, 
and a gold-field was opened after the failure of Sudest, 
but met with a similar fate, the metal being rapidly 
exhausted. The natives are head-hunters, but apparently 
not cannibals. 
The D’Entrecasteaux Islands are three in number— 
Uormanby, Eergusson, and Goodenough—none of which 
are surrounded by reefs. All are peopled by head¬ 
hunters, and the last mentioned island is conspicuous as 
the only one where fairly amicable intertribal relations 
exist. Normanby is 45 miles long, irregular in shape 
and mountainous, its highest peak 3600 feet. It is 
thickly populated, as are the others. Traces of gold and 
tin have been found. Eergusson, the central island, is 
about the same length, but much larger, having an area 
of over 500 square miles. It is volcanic, very fertile, 
and well inhabited. The highest peak, Mount Kilkerran, 
is believed to be about 5000 feet. A description of the 
solfataras and hot springs which abound on the western 
side of the island has been given on a previous page. 
Goodenough Island, though not more than 23 miles in 
