448 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
enough was murdered in 1875. Five years later Bishop 
Selwyn succeeded in ingratiating himself with the natives, 
and a missionary station was established. Vanikoro is 
the most southerly of the main group. Its highest peak, 
Mount Kapogo, has an altitude of about 3000 feet. The 
island is scantily populated, is covered with dense forest/ 
and is said to be very malarious. On the reefs off the 
south-west part of the island were lost the two ships of 
La Perouse in 1788. Their fate remained a complete 
mystery for nearly forty years, until Captain Dillon, 
guided by the discovery of certain relics on Tucopia 
Island, eventually found the remains of the vessels in 
1827, and a cleared spot on the neighbouring beach, where, 
as he was informed by the natives, the survivors built 
and launched a vessel from materials obtained from the 
wrecks. A further search by Lieutenant Benier of the 
Fabert in 1883 resulted in the discovery of other relics, 
including a bronze cannon. Volcano Island, or Tinakula, 
as it is called by the natives, although small and hardly 
exceeding 2000 feet in height, is remarkable for the 
constant state of eruption of its crater, which has been 
apparently active since its discovery nearly three centuries 
ago. The Swallow or Matema Islands are chiefly note¬ 
worthy as the scene of the murder—on Nukapu—of 
Bishop Patteson, in 1871. 
The Santa Cruz Islands are inhabited by a dark- 
skinned and frizzly-haired people, who bear the marks 
of the intermixture of two or more races, and may be 
described as of sub-Papuan stock. They are mostly 
monogamists, and live under chiefs, and are a fishing 
rather than an agricultural people, constructing well-built 
and large canoes, and navigating boldly to long distances. 
The villages are neat and carefully kept, and often 
surrounded by stone walls, but the pile-built dwellings so 
