Efate, situated almost at the dividing point of the two arms of the Y, is one of the most important of the New Hebrides, having two excellent harbours, Vila and Havannah, within the first named of which is the seat of the Anglo-French administration. Britain is represented by a high commissioner who delegates his power to a resident commissioner. On the island of Mallicolo (Male kula) is Port Sandwich, the chief port of the New Hebrides after Vila.
With their rugged outline and rich vegetation, the New Hebrides islands as seen from the sea are very beautiful. Excepting the small Torres group, which are low-lying and perched on reefs, but without lagoons, all the islands are of volcanic, not coral forma tion, the larger ones lying on both sides of the line of volcanic activity. The coasts are almost free from reefs and the shores rise abruptly from deep waters. Old coral is sometimes found ele vated to a considerable height. The islands are formed chiefly of basalt and recently erupted material; earthquakes and submarine eruption are not infrequent ; and several of the islands have very active craters. All have considerable elevations, one of the loftiest being the isolated cone of Lopevi, near the junction of the arms of the Y; its height is 4,714 ft.; in Espiritu Santo a height of 6,169 feet has been recorded. The volcanic soil is very rich. Numerous clear streams water the islands, but some debouch upon flat ground towards the sea, and then form unhealthy marshes. Copper, iron and nickel are the most important minerals known in the group; and sulphur is of some commercial importance.
The climate is generally hot and damp, especially during the months from November to April. The natural vegetation is espe cially luxuriant and interesting. The coconut palm, elsewhere confined to the parts little above the sea-level, has here spread up on to the hill-sides. The sandalwood tree occurs; and it is noteworthy that when the sandalwood traders had exhausted the supply of their commodity in the Fijian islands (1804-1816), it was chiefly to the southern New Hebridean islands that this trade was diverted. The indigenous fauna is even less abundant than in the Solomon islands; as has been said, it is possible, even probable, that the pigs so treasured by the natives had spread into the New Hebrides from Papua before the first coming of Europeans, but otherwise the only mammals are bats and rats. European pigs and horned cattle have, however, run wild in cer tain parts. Birds, insects, and fish are abundant. The natives are Melanesians of mixed blood, though in places a few Polynesians have succeeded in establishing themselves.
The history of the New Hebrides is treated in a separate arti cle. There are numerous missions at work among the natives. Presbyterian and Catholic missions have native schools. There
are in addition one French government school and two Catholic mission schools for the white population. Large areas of the land have been cleared and well cultivated—chiefly by French and British; and there is a considerable export of copra, coffee, maize, cocoa, cotton and bananas, and even of European vegetables and fruits.
Imports include provisions and foodstuffs, clothing, furniture and metal work. There is a small saw-mill on Efate. The imports for 1925 were, British, 6,107,509 francs; French, 15,896,723 francs; and the total exports amounted to 31,115,143 francs, of which three-quarters was French. The trade is mostly with Australia, New Caledonia and France.
So far as concerns the movement of peoples in this region the continuation of the line from north-west to south-east repre rented by the Solomon and the New Hebridean islands, along which the Melanesians doubtless passed down into the Pacific is to be found in the Fijian group where the Melanesians con fronted the Polynesians of the Tongan (Friendly) islands. It has been found advisable, however, in this article, to treat the island chains in the order of their supposed structural relations.
The Caroline islands are a widely scattered archipelago under Japanese mandate, included in Micronesia, and lying between 5° and io° N. and 135° and 165° E. Geographically they fall into a series of sub-parallel lines while administratively the islands are divided into two groups—the Eastern Carolines, with Truk and Ponape as centres, and the Western Carolines, together with the Palau (Pelew) islands and Yap island which belong to the continental border (u.sup.). The total land area is about 38o sq.m. and of this 307 sq.m. is covered by the four main islands, Ponape, Kusaie, Truk (or Hogolu), and Yap. The total popula tion of the Carolines is estimated at 36,000. Truk has 1,1o6 Japa nese, 26 foreigners, and 15,214 natives ; Ponape, 1,417 Japanese, 23 foreigners and 8,424 natives; Palau (Pelew), 3,657 Japanese, 16 foreigners, 6,070 natives; Yap, 36o Japanese, io foreigners, 6,355 natives. The islands were made known to Europeans by the Portuguese Diego da Rocha in 1527 and were called by him the Sequeira islands. In 1686 Admiral Francesco Lazeano renamed them the Carolines in honour of Charles II. of Spain. Spain defi nitely claimed the group in 1875 but this was contested by Ger many. After arbitration the islands passed to Spain with free trading rights for Germany. In 1899 Germany finally bought the islands from Spain and held them until after the World War when they passed under Japanese mandate.