NIUE, UNION, AND ELLICE ISLANDS 507 
Australia and New Zealand—for there is little or no 
direct trade with England—were nearly 2|- times 
greater in value than those of any other nation. The 
population is probably about 36,000, of whom about 
300 are Europeans. Steam communication exists with 
Australia, New Zealand, San Francisco, and Tahiti, the 
latter island, like Samoa, being a great emporium of South 
Sea trade. 
5. Savage Island. 
Savage Island, or Niue, situated nearly midway be¬ 
tween the Tonga and Samoa groups, is a small and very 
fertile island, about nine miles long, of raised coral rock, 
and interesting as having a population of mixed Samoan 
and Melanesian blood. They speak a Samoan dialect, 
and say their ancestors came from that island, and 
found a black population, w T ith whom they have inter¬ 
mixed. They are now wholly converted to Christianity, 
and are found to be a very intelligent, mild, and interest¬ 
ing race, and by no means the dangerous savages they 
were long supposed to be. Their numbers in 1864 were 
over 5000, and they are said to increase at the rate of 
2\ per cent annually. If this be true, we may probably 
attribute it to the fact that the island is too small to 
attract any visitors other than the missionaries; and it 
becomes most valuable evidence that Polynesians may 
be civilised wdthout being exterminated, if they are only 
protected from the rude competition, the vices, and the 
diseases which free intercourse with the ordinary class 
of Europeans invariably brings upon them. The popu¬ 
lation in 1892 was, however, said to number 5070, so 
that, unless emigration has taken place, this report of 
increase is incorrect. In Mr. Brenchley’s Voyage of the 
