15

A.—3a

cured in abundance by sinking wells in the centre of the island. Many of the people were away working at their plantations when we were there ; but I estimated the number of those we saw at about six hundred. All the males were naked, as on Arorae. We found a very bitter feeling existing against ' men-stealing vessels,' and especially against those from Tahiti. " Onoatoa (Francis Island), in lat. 1° 56' S. and long. 175° 44' E., was sighted before dark on the same day (October 19th), and we were off one end of it early next morning. This is an atoll, with a number of islands partially surrounding a lagoon eight or ten miles across. Besides this large lagoon, there are several small shallow lagoons in various parts of the larger islands. Where we landed there was very little soil. The cocoa-nut and pandanus trees grow out of the sand, but on other parts there is more soil, and the people said they had plenty of food. When wo were there, they had been several months without rain, and the vegetation was very much parched up. " Peru, in lat. 1° 18' S., and long. 176° E. This is an island several miles long, and varying from half a mile to a mile or more wide. It is not an atoll like most of the islands we visited, but there are several shallow lagoons in it, some very small, surrounded by the land, and dry at low tide, others larger and open on one side to the reef which runs round the island. The island itself is formed of successive ridges of sand, broken coral, and shells. These ridges are most of them from 30 to 50 feet across, and the hollows formed between them are generally from 4to 6 feet in depth. For some distance, at that end of the island which I examined, they run across, and in the middle they run parallel with the sides of, the island. The whole extent examined presented the same appearance, and the ridges were so regular that they gave one the idea of being artificially formed. The waves must exert a mighty force during heavy weather to form these extensivo ridges. There is little doubt but each ridge is the result of a single storm. I have already referred, in the notice of Atafu, in tho Tokelau group, to a similar ridge of smaller dimensions which was thrown up during the present year ; and I have seen several small islands of broken coral and shells, which were formed on the reefs in Samoa during a hurricane of a few hours' duration. " The productions of Peru are in every respect similar to those of other islands in the group. The natives appear to value the pandanus even more than the cocoa-nut palm. They consume immense quantities of the fruit raw ; and the variety which they cultivate in the Gilbert group (which is much superior to that found in the Ellice Islands, and immeasurably superior to the kind cultivated in Samoa), produces a very palatable fruit. The women prepare a kind of cake by baking the fruit till it becomes soft; they then pound a large number together in a fine mat, and spread the prepared pulp in cakes two or three feet wide by six or eight long and one-sixth of an inch thick. The whole is then dried in the sun, and made into a roll like an ancient manuscript. This keeps for a length of time, and tastes something like old dates. " Peru was the last island in the Gilbert group which we visited. We had information from Tapeteuea (Drummond Island), the nearest island to Peru, that the Sandwich Island missionaries were already there ; and we concluded that they had also occupied another island to the north of Drummond Island, but on the south of the equator, about which we had no information. Only one other island remained, viz., Nukunau (Byron Island), which lies considerably to the east of Peru. As this was directly to windward of us, and would have been a dead beat, we made no attempt to go there this year." PhcENIX GbOTTP. This group consists of seven or eight small low coral islands, extending from lat. 2° 53' to 5° 38' S., and from long. 170° 40' to 174° 22' W. Their names are Swallow Island, Eudcrbury's Island, Birney's Island, Gardner or Kemin's Island, McKean's Island, Hull Island, and Sydney Island. The following were visited by Commodore Wilkes, from whose description of them the particulars here given are taken: — Kemin's or Gardner Island, in 4° 37' 42 S., long. 174° 40' 18" W., is a low coral island, having a shallow lagoon in the centre, into which there is no navigable passage. McKean's Island is in long. 174° 17' 26" W., and lat. 3° 35' 10" S., and lies about N.N.E., sixty miles from Kemin's Island. It is composed of coral, sand, and blocks, and is three-quarters of a mile long by half a mile wide. Enderbury's Island is in lat. 3° 8' S., long. 171° 8' 30" W. It is three miles long by two and a half wide, and is only covered in parts with a stunted vegetation. Hull's Island lies in long. 172° 20' 52" W., and lat. 4° 29' 48" S. It has a little fresh water upon it, and a few cocoa-nut trees. Sandwich oe Hawaiian- Islands. Sandwich or Hawaiian Islands, forming the Kingdom of Hawaii, are a rich, beautiful, and interesting chain, eight in number, exclusive of one or two small islets. The chain runs from south-east to north-west, and lies in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in lat. 19° 22' N., long. 155° 160' W. Area, 6,000 square miles. The names, with the areas of the respective islands, proceeding from the south-east of the group, are—Hawaii (formerly Owhyee), 4,000 square miles; Maui, 620; Oahu, 530 ; Kaui, 500 ; Molokai, 167 ; Lanai, 100 ; Niihau, about 70 ; and Kahoolaui, about 60 square miles. Population. —The official census of 1866 puts the total population of the group at 62,959 souls, of whom 4,194 were foreigners (exclusive of Chinamen), and 58,765 natives. Imports, in 1871,1,625,884 dols., £325,176. Exports, in 1871, 1,892,069 dols., £378,413. Sugar continues to be the great staple of this group of islands, and shows an advance of 2,977,034 lbs. over last year, the whole export of 1871 having amounted to 21,660,773 lbs. Shipping. —There were 57 Hawaiian registered vessels, of 8,068 tons—one of them a steamer of 414 tons ; 163 merchant vessels, of the united tonnage of 102,172 tons, arrived at the port of Honolulu in 1871, from all parts of the world. Of these, 89, of 65,112 tons, were American; 44, of 24,267 tons were British. Government. —In 1840 the King, Kamehameha 111., granted a Constitution, consisting of King, Assembly of Nobles, and Eepresentative Council. In 1843 the independence of tho Hawaiian Kingdom was formally declared by the Prench and English Governments.