THE SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS 
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and customs and physical appearance. The use of kava, 
however, together with the existence of chiefs, the custom 
of tattooing, the construction of small houses, and plank- 
built boats, are non-Papuan characteristics, and point 
distinctly to the existence at some period of a Polynesian 
influence. 
2. The Santa Cruz Islands. 
Lying about 200 miles east of the southern islands of 
the Solomon group, and about the same distance from the 
nearest of the New Hebrides, are the Santa Cruz or 
Queen Charlotte Islands, scattered in their distribution, 
and none of them of large size. They were discovered 
by Mendana during his second expedition in 1595, and 
they were not again seen by Europeans until 1767, when 
Captain Carteret rediscovered them. They have since 
been visited by many exploring expeditions, and have 
become memorable as the scene of more than one tragedy. 
Here La Perouse’s expedition came to a sudden and 
disastrous termination, and Commodore Goodenough and 
Bishop Patteson were murdered by the natives. All the 
islands are volcanic, and there are no atolls and few 
fringing reefs except at Yanikoro. 
The group is composed of the Duff Islands to the 
north-east, the Matema or Swallow Islands, Santa Cruz 
(Nitendi), Tupua, Yanikoro, Tinakula or Yolcano Island; 
while to the south-east are the small and isolated islets, 
Tukopia, Cherry Island (Anuda), and Mitre Island 
(Fataka). Santa Cruz, from which the group takes its 
name, is about 16 miles long, is densely wooded and well 
watered, but the natives until recently bore the worst of 
characters. Here Carteret lost his pilot and boat’s crew 
by the treachery of the people, and Commodore Good- 
