Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/394

376 E W N E W bridges, one of which, constructed in 1792, was the first suspension bridge in America. The ground on which the city is built rises gradually to a height of about 100 feet ; along the top of the ridge, parallel with the river, runs for a distance of 3 miles High Street, the leading thorough fare, lined with old-fashioned mansions (Caleb Cushing s, Lord Timothy Dexter s, etc.) ; and at the junction of High Street and State Street is a pond of 3^ acres enclosed by a terraced promenade. The streets in general are umbrageous even for an American city, a special endowment having been left for the maintenance of shade trees. Old South (Presbyterian) Church in Federal Street contains a whisper ing gallery of a very striking kind, and under its pulpit lie the remains of George Whitefield. The free library, founded by Josiah Little in 1854, and endowed by George Peabody, occupies the old Tracy mansion, and contains upwards of 21,000 volumes. Putnam Free School, dating from 1847, with an endowment of $50,000, and the high school for girls, are both institutions of wide reputation (the latter the first of its kind in the States), now consolidated with the high school for boys. The cotton manufacture, introduced in 1836, is the staple of the city, which also, however, contains shoe factories (one of them said to be the largest manufactory of women s shoes in the world), an iron foundry, a distillery, carriage works, hat factories, &c., and has long been the seat of extensive shipbuild ing operations (tonnage 4000 in 1882). The harbour (formed by the northern end of Plum Island, which is united to the city by a causeway) is of somewhat difficult access owing to the shifting character of the bar, which becomes altogether impassable during storms from the east. The population of the city was 13,401 in 1860, 12,595 in 1870, and 13,538 in 1880. Newbury was settled by Thomas Parker s company in 1635, but it was not till 1764 tliat Newburyport attained independent existence. It had reached a state of great prosperity when in 1811 about 11 acres of its most closely-built portion were destroyed by fire. In 1851 a city charter was obtained. Plate VI. NEW CALEDONIA, the largest island in the Pacific after New Zealand, about 240 miles long, with an average breadth of 25 miles, lies at the southern extremity of MELANESIA (q.v.), between 20 10 and 22 25 S. lat. and between 164 and 167 E. long., and, like all the chief islands of that chain and the chain itself, runs north west and south-east. It was discovered by Cook in 1774, and was appropriated by the French for a convict settle ment in 1853. Their capital, Noumea, with a fine harbour, is near the south end of the island. An almost unbroken barrier reef skirts the west shore at about 5 miles distance ; on the east, which is more abrupt and precipitous, it is much interrupted. To the north the reefs continue, marking the former extension of the land, for about 160 miles, ending with the Huon Islands. Hunea, or Isle of Pines, so called from its araucarias, geologically a continuation of New Caledonia, lies 30 miles from its south-east extremity. It abounded formerly in sandalwood, and consists of a central plateau surrounded by a belt of cultivation. New Caledonia consists essen tially of confused masses and ranges of mountains, rising at Mount Humboldt to 5380 feet, the plains being chiefly the deltas of rivers. The landscape is rich and beautiful, varied with grand rock scenery, the coast-line being broken by countless streams, often skilfully utilized by the natives for irrigation. The larger rivers in the wet season form impassable morasses. The framework of the island consists chiefly of argillaceous, serpentinous, and mica schists. There are no active volcanoes, but great magnesian eruptions, represented by serpentines, cover the greater part of the surface, especially in the south east, the extent of sedimentary formations, ranging from Upper Devonian (to which some Carboniferous rocks near Noumea apparently belong) to Neocomian, being relatively insignificant. With the serpentines occur masses of red clay from the decomposed rock, and much chromate of iron, which forms the metalliferous black sands of the streams. The famous nickel mines lie in the Kanala district, and extend for some 60 miles along the east coast,, the rocks being coated with the green ore ("garnierite," a hydrous magnesian silicate impregnated with nickel oxide), which also occurs in pockets, and is extensively worked. There are also mines of copper and cobalt. Gold has only been found in small quantities. In the low-lying districts to the south-east are several lakes and morasses of black mud, and blocks of ironstone so abundant as to affect the compass. In the north-west the rocks (in which quartz replaces the diorite) are not ferruginous, and are. less contorted. The hottest and the wettest months are from December to March, but there is usually a fresh trade- wind blowing, and the climate is healthy. There is much less moisture, and the flora is of a less tropical character,, than farther north; it has some Polynesian and New Zealand affinities, and on the west coast a partially Australian character ; on the higher hills it is stunted ; on the lower, however, there are fine grass lands, and a scattered growth of niaulis (Melaleuca viridiftora), useful for its timber, bark, and cajeput oil. There is a great variety of fine timber trees: those at present most used are the kaurie, houp, and other pines, tamanou (Calo- phyllum montanum), ironwood, acacias, milneas, Cordia. Sebestena, cohu, bourao, azou. The bread-fruit, sago, banana, vanilla, ginger, arrowroot, and curcuma grow- wild. The cocoa nut, maize, sugar-cane, coffee, cotton, rice, and tobacco (which last does not suffer like other crops from the locusts) do well. The orange, indigo, lucerne, and European vegetables are grown. There are probably no mammals except the rat and Pteropus and other bats. The commonest birds are pigeons (the large notou and other varieties), doves, parrots, kingfishers,. and ducks. The kagu (Rhinochetus jubatus), a peculiar "wingless" bird, is found here only. Turtle abound on the coast, and fish, of which some kinds, as the tetrodons (globe-fish), are poisonous, especially at certain seasons. The population is probably about 30,000, but has diminished greatly since the French occupation. There are two distinct types : one is sub-Papuan, probably aboriginal, dark brown, with black frizzly hair, rounded narrow retreating forehead, high cheek-bones, and flat nose depressed at the root below the prominent brows ; the other, with all these features modified, better-developed physique,, and lighter colour, strongly resembles the Polynesian, and is most numerous in the east and south, where most of the upper class belong to it ; but the two types intermingle everywhere. The women, though hard worked, are less degraded than is usual among Papuans. Their marriage ceremonies end with a simulated flight and capture. The people are hospitable to strangers, and not quarrelsome among themselves, though fond of war with another tribe, which is declared by a masked messenger, who taking a spear and money with him thrusts the former among the challenged tribe, and then, throwing down the money in atonement of the injury his. spear may have done, is allowed to return unharmed. Their weapons are clubs, slings, stone hatchets (resembling the Australian), and spears with a throwing cord. Rows of stones are found commem orating the numbers of enemies killed and eaten in former wars. The French have found them formidable antagonists on many occasions; the last "revolt" was put down after much trouble and bloodshed in 1881. There are various degrees of hereditary chiefships, distinguished by insignia on their houses. As in some other Pacific islands, when a son is born the chiefship passes to him r but the father continues to govern as regent. They have strict ideas of property individual, village, and tribal. The people have to work on the chiefs plantations and fisheries, and also work in parties for each other, breaking up new land, &c. This often ends in feasting and in dances (pilu pilu), which include allegorical representations of events or ideas. Their huts are usually beehive-shaped, with a single apartment,, low narrow door, and no chimney. The fire inside is their only defence against mosquitoes. The central pole is continued outside,, usually by a rude figure surmounted by a long post elaborately decorated, especially in the chiefs houses, which far overtop the