458 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
value of the year’s export of these metals and their ores 
as follows:—Nickel, £143,804; silver lead, £26,145; 
cobalt, £11,338 ; chrome, £11,336 ; and copper, £6219. 
New Caledonia differs from all the other islands of 
Melanesia in its drier and cooler climate. It is said to 
be healthier than France, and the weather has been 
described as a perpetual spring with a moderately hot 
summer of four months’ duration. The rainy season is 
irregular and ill-defined, hut the rains fall chiefly during 
the first six months of the year. The average annual 
fall at Noumea is 70 inches. On the east coast, where 
the mountain slopes are exposed to the prevailing wind, 
the rains are more frequent and heavier. Cyclones 
occur, but fortunately not often, as they cause enormous 
damage to the plantations. The flora is rich and peculiar, 
over 1100 dicotyledons being known, but the character 
of the vegetation differs very much according to the 
locality. Much of the island is bare and arid-looking, 
or partially clothed with bushes and mast-like pines 
(.Araucaria Cookii). In the north only, and on some of 
the mountain sides, is there any extent of forest country. 
The sandal-wood, once plentiful, has almost disappeared, 
but there are many fine timber trees, among them the 
kauri. The aromatic niauli (.Melaleuca viridiflora ) is 
closely allied to the cajuput-yielding tree of Buru, and 
affords a similar valuable oil. 
The fauna shows great deficiency in mammalian life. 
A single Pteropus is found, but terrestrial mammals 
seem to be confined to a rat, which is probably an intro¬ 
duced species. Reptiles are very few. The affinities of 
the group are not very evident. Mr. E. L. Layard con¬ 
siders that the connection is on the whole greater with 
Australia than with New Zealand. The avifauna cer¬ 
tainly shows this; the genera Trichoglossus , Artamus , 
