466 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
except perhaps those of Aneitium. Many missionaries, 
both Catholic and Protestant, have worked in the islands. 
There is in all a great dearth of water, and the juice of 
the coco-nuts forms the usual drink of the inhabitants. 
Uvea or Uea, the northern island, is the smallest but 
most fertile of the group. Lifu, occupying the central 
position, is the largest, and is about 35 miles long by 15 
wide. Its town, Chepenehe, is the capital of the Loyalty 
group and the residence of the French Administrateur. 
It has a population of about 8000 natives, who are in¬ 
dustrious and harmless. The majority of the men wear 
no dress of any kind. On Mare most of the people are 
Christians ; they build good houses, work, trade, and save 
money. 
In the northern part of Uea there is a regular colony 
of Polynesians, wdio are said to have come only two or 
three generations back from an island of the same name 
west of Samoa. A similar migration of the dark race 
seems to have occurred from Mare to Maer or Murray 
Island in Torres Straits, the name also having been 
transferred. The resemblance of the people of this latter 
island to the natives of the Loyalty group was noticed 
by Jukes. 
