One of the latter, Tofoa, is always smoking, and there are two other active volcanoes and many extinct cones. The area is about 390 square miles, with

a population of over 20,000.

The largest island is Tongatabu: it embraces nearly a third of the area and more than a third of the population of the group. The soil is generally fertile, and the principal products are copra, which forms nineteen-twentieths of the exports, cotton, green fruit, kava, and whale oil. More than half the imports come from Auckland, New Zealand; the rest chiefly from Sydney, New South Wales, and Germany. Most of the exports are shipped in foreign vessels, chiefly German.

Tonga was proclaimed a British Protectorate in May, 1900 NUKUALOFA, on Tongatabu, is the capital and chief port, and the residence of the native king. The Samoa or Navigator Islands, a group of 14 volcanic islands, are situated about 350 miles north-east of the Tonga Islands.

Germany having attempted to annex these islands, the United States and England intervened, and, at a conference on Samoan affairs, held at Berlin in 1889, the three powers agreed to recognise the independence of the rat ve Government, and to guarantee the neutrality of the islands. By the AngoGerman agreement of 1899, Great Britain gave up all her rights over the group, and the islands of Savaii and Upolu were given to Germany, while the United States secured the island of Tutuila and dependencies. The natives, who number about 34,000, are all Christians, and schools and training colleges are attached to the churches. The Samoans are among the tallest people on the globe, and they are certainly the best formed physically: they are gracefu, dignified, and courageous, and their bravery has often been put to the test in the civil wars which, owing to the intrigues of foreign adventurers, have prevailed during recent years.

The largest of these enchanting islands are Savaii, Upolu, and Tutuila. In the interior of Savaii are many extinct craters-one of which rises to a height of 4,000 feet—and barren lava-plains, but the narrow strip of cultivated land between the mountains and the sea is very fertile and is covered with a luxuriant vegetation. The smaller islands are even more productive and beautiful-the hills being densely wooded, while the fertile lowlands yield abundant creps of cotton, coffee, and maize. Copra is, however, the principal product. APIA, on the island of Upolu, is the centre of trade, which is mainly in the hands of German merchants. The United States have a coaling station at PANGOPANGO, on the island of Tutuila. Regular communication is maintained by steamers from Sydney and Auckland via Tonga, and the mail steamers between Auckland and San Francisco call at Pango-Pango.

North of Tonga are the small Wallis Islands, which have belonged to France since 1886. The inhabitants have been Christianized by French missionaries, and are increasing in numbers.

... About midway between Samoa and Tonga is an isolated island belonging to Great Britain. Now that the people have been civilized and Christianized, its name-Savage Island-is hardly appropriate. The raised coral rock, of which the island consists, is only about nine miles in length, but the population exceeds 5,000, and, unlike that of most of the Polynesian islands, it is not decreasing.

1. Savali disputes with Hawail the honour of being the original home of the Polynesian race, and of being the traditional Hawaiki whence the ncestors of the Maoris of New Zealand migrated

to the great southern islands. Both names-Savan and Hawaii-would be pronounced Hawaiki by a Maori, but the word may only have a general meaning like the word "home" in English,

POLYNESIA: COOK ARCHIPELAGO, SOCIETY ISLANDS, ETC. 795

THE COOK ARCHIPELAGO.

The Cook Archipelago, so named in honour of its discoverer, the famous Captain Cook, consists of a group of nine islands, situated about 700 miles south-east of Samoa.

These islands, also called the Hervey Islands, are either volcanic or coralline, and are all encircled by dangerous coral reefs. Their total area is only about 142 square miles, and the population is not more than 8,4co. The largest island is the well-known Rarotonga, the scene of the missionary labours of John Williams, the apostle of the Pacific, and one of the pioneers of missionary enterprise in the South Sea Islands. The islanders, formerly fierce cannibals, are now in an advanced state of civilization, but they are rapidly diminishing in numbers. Their petition for annexation to Great Britain was unheeded until 1888, when a British Protectorate was proclaimed. They were annexed to New Zealand in 1900.

THE SOCIETY ISLANDS, THE AUSTRAL ISLES, AND THE LOW ARCHIPELAGO.

The Society Islands, the most important group in Southern Polynesia, with the Low Archipelago to the east and the Austral Isles to the south, and other islands and island-groups in this part of the Pacific, belong to France, and are officially known as the French Establishments in Oceania.

The Society Islands form a group of eleven volcanic islands, the largest of which is the double island of Tahiti, one of the most beautiful and picturesque islands in the world. The two sections of the island, which are connected by a low and narrow isthmus, both rise in a succession of bold terraces toward the central peaks, which, in the larger section, rise in Mount Orohena to an elevation of 7,340 feet, and in the smaller to almost exactly half that altitude. The trip along the north coast of Tahiti, writes Von Popp, is enchantingly beautiful. The low-lying tracts, stretching from the white shores of the lagoons to the steep slopes of the hills, are clothed in the richest and most varied vegetation, from the bright deep shades of the bread-fruit tree to the soft light green foliage of the young banana. Romantic valleys and gorges lead into the interior, with the outlines of Mount Orohena in the background. When visited for the first time, the effect of this scene is heightened as the ship, suddenly rounding the last headland, brings into view the harbour of PAPEETE, the capital of Tahiti and the centre of French trade and influence in Southern Polynesia. Copra, mother-of-pearl, and fine cotton are the staple exports.

The 11,000 natives who occupy the 600 square miles of dry land in the group are a fine and handsome people, but civilisation and brandy have sadly deteriorated the gigantic race which excited Cook's admiration. English missionaries have succeeded in inducing most of them to profess Christianity, but they are rapidly dying out, although the islands are so fertile and productive that they could easily bear ten times the present population. They are nominally ruled by their native sovereign, but Queen Pomare IV. must govern according to the advice of the French authorities, who treat Tahiti much the same as an ordinary colony. There are about 2,500 French and some 600 other Europeans or Americans, besides about 2,000 Chinese coolies. The prepara tion of sugar, rum, and copia form the chief industries of the islands.

The Austral Isles are a group of volcanic islands a few hundred miles south of Tahiti. The loftiest and largest of them is Tubuai, and the group, which has belonged to France since 1881, is often called by that name.

About 360 miles south of Tubuai is another volcanic island, Oparo or Rapa, belonging to France. It contains about 150 people, very few of whom are white, and it is valueless, except as a port of call for vessels on the Auckland and Panama route to Europe.

The Low Archipelago, which is also under French control, consists of a cluster of about 80 atolls, extending for 1,550 miles to the east and south-east of Taniti. The Polynesian name-Tuamotu or "distant islands "—is expressive as regards the position of this group, which, with the exception of the Gambier Islands in the south-east, is the most easterly of all the island-groups in the Pacific. The name Low Archipelago is also most appropriate—all the atolls are low and flat, with neither springs nor streams; the 7,000 inhabitants, having little or no productive soil to cultivate, subsist on fish and on the gains of the rich pearl fisheries and the produce of the cocoa-nut palms, which grow along the outer edge of the atolls or on the margin of the enclosed lagoons.

The Gambier Islands, which have been under French protection since 1844, are a group of five volcanic islands to the south-east of the Low Archipelago. The largest island-Mangareva-is almost under the Tropic of Capricorn. The Mangarevans were formerly cannibals, but are now peaceable Catholics.

PITCAIRN AND EASTER ISLANDS.

Between the Gambier Islands and the South American coast, a distance of 4,000 miles, there are only a few solitary islets, two of which, however, possess special interest - Pitcairn Island, as the refuge of the mutineers of the Bounty, and Easter Island, for its wonderful ruins of massive stone houses, walls, terraces, and colossal stone images.

Pitcairn Island is an isolated mountainous island, about 2 miles long and three-quarters of a mile wide, with a fine climate, a fertile volcanic soil, covered with palms and fruit trees. It was in 1790 that the mutineers of the Bounty settled here. Their descendants were removed first to Tahiti and then back again to their island, only to be again removed, in 1856, to Norfolk Island, but two years later many of them returned to their island home, They have since increased to about 200, and there is probably no healthier, happier, or more contented and comfortable a community in the world than the isolated islanders of Pitcairn. There are some remarkable remains of a settled prehistoric people in Pitcairn Island, but the most wonderful of all the evidences of a mighty past in these distant and solitary islands, are the stone houses and gigantic statues on Easter Island, a storm-swept rock, 11 miles long and 4 miles wide, with but little vegetation and no fresh water, except a few springs and pools. In 1860, the island, which has been annexed by Chili, was said to contain a thousand inhabitants; now there are scarcely a tenth of the number. They know nothing of the origin of the 200 statues or idols-huge stone images, 15 to 37 feet in height, cut out of the trachytic lava, many of them still standing, others prostrate and mutilated on the enormous stone platiorms on which they stood. These platforms are found on nearly every headland, while, at the south-west corner of the island, are about a hundred massive stone houses

with walls 5 feet thick and doorways facing the sea. The sea cliffs near the houses have also been sculptured into fantastic shapes or strange faces. Altogether these antiquities of Easter Island are the most mysterious and inexplicable of all the many remains of some pre-historic people that once dwelt in the Polynesian archipelagoes, and perhaps regarded this far distant island as the sanctuary of their gods.

ANTARCTICA.

The extreme limits of the Antarctic mainland are now generally known from the discoveries of the numerous expeditions which have reached its shores, but whether the interior forms one continental land-mass, or is split up into separate large islands, is not known. It is probable, however, that an immense circumpolar continent, larger than Australia, does exist, and to this assumed continent the name Antarctica is sometimes given.

None of the three continents in the Southern Hemisphere reach the Antarctic Circle. Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, is more than 30 degrees from the nominal boundary of the South Polar regions. The South Cape of Tasmania is more than 20 degrees, and Cape Horn, the extreme southern point of South America, is more than 10 degrees from the Antarctic Circle. But several portions of land have been sighted between these points and the Antarctic Circle, and a few daring navigators have crossed it, but, with the exception of Sir James Ross and Weddell, none of them reached the 72nd parallel-all of them being stopped by the immense ice-fields or ice-banks, skirting the inaccessible coasts, which lie on or near the Antarctic Circle. The principal known points are Graham Land, Louis Philippe Land, and Alexander I. Land, to the south of Cape Horn; Enderby Island, about 2,800 miles south of Madagascar ; the irregular coasts of Sabrina Land, Clarie Land, and Adelie Land, to the south of Australia; and the extensive Victoria Land, almost due south of New Zealand, discovered by Sir James Ross in 1841. The principal landmark on this dreary and most inhospitable coast is a range of mountains, running south and culminating in Mount Erebus, an active volcano, 12,367 feet in height, and Mount Terror, an extinct volcano, 10,889 feet above the sea-level.

The portions of land discovered within the Antarctic Circle are almost everywhere inaccessible, and, even where there is open water, landing is rendered impossible by enormous ice-banks of from 5 to 20 miles in width, which skirt the coasts, and portions of which are constantly being broken off, forming the icebergs which encumber these storm-swept seas and render their navigation most difficult and dangerous. Immense numbers of the Antarctic icebergs are found as far north as 55° or 50°, even in summer, or 10° nearer the Equator than those of the Arctic Ocean.

The whole of the Antarctic Regions is within the snow-line, and vegetation practically teases south of Cockburn Island (64° 12′ S. lat., 54° 49' W. long.) and even there it disappears entirely at an elevation of 1,000 feet. As regards animal life, no terrestrial quadruped," says Sir John Richardson, “inhabits the lands within the Antarctic Circle; the marine cetaceans and seals being the only mammals that enter its area, or approach it within many degrees of latitude. Organized specially to inhabit the chilly Antarctic waste of waters, the almost scaly penguins resemble the walrus and seals, in being able to travel long and far beneath the surface of the ocean in seeking their food in its depths, and scarcely quitting it except for the purpose of incubation."

1. In 18,5 M. Borchgrevink, who was aboard the whaler Antarctic, discovered a species of moss on Possession Island, 74° S. lat.

The discovery of the New World by Columbus revived in full force the theoretical notion of the old geographers relative to the existence of a vast continent to the south. The search for this Terra Australis Incognita-as the probable southern continent was called-engrossed the attention of the maritime nations of Europe for more than 200 years. In 1600, a vessel belonging to a Dutch squadron bound for the East Indies, was driven to the south of Cape Horn, and in latitude 64o passed a snow-covered coast (afterwards named South Shetland), while the other vessels passed through the Strait of Magellan. Captain Kerguelen, in 1769-70, explored the area between Australia and the island named after him-Kerguelen Island—but more appropriately called the Isle of Desolation. The famous navigator, Captain Cook, sailed from Plymouth in 1772, in command of an expedition to determine "whether the unexplored part of the Southern Hemisphere be only an immense mass of water, or contains another continent, as specula tive geography seemed to suggest." Cook's vessels-the Resolution and the Adventureleft the Cape of Good Hope for the south in November, and crossed the Antarctic Circle in January, but icefields and icebergs compelled them to sail north again. Twelve months later, the Resolution again crossed the circle and pushed south, but was stopped in lati. tude 71° 10' by an immense icefield, which Cook says extended east and west far beyond the reach of sight. Ninety-seven icehills were distinctly seen within the fields, besides those on the outside, many of them very large, and looking like a ridge of mountains, rising one above another till they were lost in the clouds. The outer or northern edge of this immense field was composed of loose or broken ice, close packed together, so that it was not possible for anything to enter it. This was about a mile broad, within which was solid ice in one continued compact body, was rather low and flat (except the hills), but seemed to increase in height towards the south. In his third expedition to the south, Cook discovered South Georgia and the Sandwich Group, called by him Southern Thule. He thus sums up the results of his observations:-"I had now made the circuit of the Southern Ocean in a high latitude, and traversed it in such a manner as to leave not the least room for the possibility of there being a continent, unless near the pole." Cook firmly believed that "there is a tract of land near the pole, which is the source of most of the ice that is spread over this vast Southern Ocean."

In 1821-3, several discoveries were made to the south and west of the South Shetlands, and in 1830, Biscoe, in command of two vessels belonging to Messrs. Enderby, discovered Enderby Island,' and, two years later, the same navigator sighted Graham's Land (which is crossed by the Antarctic Circle) and the adjoining islands, now known as the Biscoe Islands

In 1839, Balleny discovered the group of islands named after him-the Balleny Islands --and also sighted Sabrina Land, which was, however, inaccessible. In the same year, the French navigator, D'Urville, explored the coast-line of Louis Philippe Land, and afterwards crossed the Antarctic Circle, and, making his way through “lanes of ice," discovered Adelie Land, but, after vainly trying to find an opening in the ice barrier that skirts the coasts of Clarie Land, the vessels were headed north.

In 1837, the American Government had also fitted out an expedition, consisting of five vessels, under the command of Lieutenant Wilkes, for the exploration of the South Polar Seas, but, although land was sighted in several places, it could not be approached on ac count of the ice, and the only "landing" that was effected was on an iceberg, the surface of which was strewn with stones and other débris. The great danger to which vessels are exposed in the Antarctic Seas will be seen from the following extract from the pen of the commander :-"We were swiftly dashing on, for I felt it necessary to keep the ship under rapid way through the water, to enable her to steer and work quickly. Suddenly, many voices cried out, ice ahead!'-then, on the weather-bow!'-and again, on the lee-bow and abeam!' All hope of escape seemed in a moment to vanish. Return we could not, as large islands had just been passed to leeward; so we dashed on, expecting every moment the crash. The ship, in an instant, from having her lee guns under water,

1. Here the explorers first saw the Aurora Australis, described by Biscoe as "at times rolling over our heads in the form of beautiful columns, then as suddenly changing like the fringe of a cur tain, and again shooting across the hemisphere like a serpent; frequently appearing not many yards above our heads, and decidedly within our atmo

sphere." It was the most magnificent phenomenon of the kind that they had ever seen, and, although the vessel was in considerable danger, running wh a smart breeze, and much beset by the ice, the men could scarcely be kept from looking at the heavens instead of attending to the course.