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Navigatoks Islands. The following description of this group is by the Eev. J. Powell, F.L.S., of the Samoan Mission:-— " Samoa is the native name of the Navigators group, which lies between 13° 30' and 14° 20' S. lat., and 169° 24' and 172° 50' W. long. Its number of inhabited islands is ten, with a population of about 34,700. It is 265 miles long, and includes an area of 1,650 square miles. All the islands are of volcanic origin, and contain several craters, the largest of which, if we except the harbour of Pangopango, Tutuila, is on Savaii. " The variety and beauty of the appearance of these islands almost baffle description. The effect upon visitors of a first sight of them is enchanting, nor is much of the enchantment lost after a long acquaintance with them. " The first island that comes in sight of voyagers arriving from the eastward is Ta'u, the largest of the three islands that constitute the group, which the natives call Manu'a. It is about six miles long, four and a half broad, and sixteen in circumference, and contains 100 square miles. " About six miles west of Ta'u is the island of Olosenga. This is a very rocky island, three miles long, 500 yards wide, and about 1,500 feet high. It contains twenty-four square miles. It is precipitous on every side, least so on the north-east, most on the north and south-west. On the latter side, about 200 feet from the shore, rises up a mural precipice 1,200 feet high. The principal village is situated, in times of peace, on the strip of land in front of this precipice. In times of war the people live on the mountain. " About two miles and a half off the eastern point of the island a volcanic eruption burst out from the deep ocean in September, 1866. " Ofu, the smallest of the three islands included in the Manu'an group, is neither so high nor so precipitous as Olosenga. It is separated from the latter by only a narrow, shallow strait, about a fourth of a mile wide. A double-pointed crag off its eastern extremity, together with the precipitous, craggy nature of Olosenga, give to the neighbourhood a remarkably romantic appearance. The population of the Manua'n group is about 1,500. " Aunuu. —Sixty miles west of Ofu is the island of Tutuila. A mile from Tutuila, off its southeast point, is the little island of Aunuu. This island is about five miles in circumference. Populalation, 200. " Tutuila is a most beautiful island. It is seventeen miles long, five wide, and sixty in circumference, and contains 240 square miles. Its population in 1866 was 3,948. It has a mountain range running along almost its entire length from east to west. From the main ridge spurs branch off north and south. The island appears to have been formed by a number of volcanoes, situated in a line extending in a direction from east by north tp west by south. As these have thrown up their burning lava and scoria they have formed one united ridge, and many craters on both its north and south sides, with wide openings towards the sea. The spurs running down from the ridges are the sides of these craters, and near their junction with the main ridge there occur at intervals along the island mountains towering far above the ridge and spurs. Thus are formed mountains and ridges, slopes and valleys, and bays of varied forms and sizes, which, covered with the luxuriant vegetation which a moist tropical atmosphere producss, furnish scenes of surpassing beauty. " Upolu is situated north-west by west of Tutuila, at a distance of about thirty-six miles. It is about forty miles long, thirteen broad, and 130 in circumference. It contains 560 square miles, and has a population of about 15,600. " Manono. —Two miles from the western point of Upolu, and encircled by its reef, is the island of Manono. It is nearly of a triangular shape, and less than five miles in circumference. It contains nine square miles. It has a mountain a few hundred feet high, from whose summit can bg obtained a splendid view of Upolu and Savii. It is itself ' one entire garden, in looking at which the eye can scarcely tire.' It has a population of about 1,000. This island held a very extensive political supremacy over Upolu till the war of 1847-54, in which she lost that supremacy, and was obliged to take her place on a level with those over whom she had formerly exercised much despotic power. " Apolima is about two miles from Manono. It is a crater somewhat resembling a horseshoe, while its depth may well suggest the idea of the hand with the fingers contracted, which is the meaning of the name. Its highest part is 472 feet above the sea. The population is about 200. " Savaii. —This island is the largest of the group. Its most eastern point is about ten miles from the western point of Upolo. It is about forty-eight miles long, twenty-two broad, and 150 in circumference. It contains 700 square miles. It has a high mountain-chain running along its length, the highest point of which is more than 4,000 feet above the sea-level. This is the edge of a large crater. The volcanoes which formed this island seem not to have been extinct so long as those which formed the other islands of the group." The native population of Samoa at the beginning of 1872 was estimated at from 33,000 to 34,000. Of Europeans there were then about 250 on the group. The value of imports in 1871 was set down at £25,000; but the year before they amounted to £42,000. The exports in 1871 were valued at £45,000, and consisted chiefly of cobra (dried cocoanut). Further particulars regarding the Navigators Islands can be gathered from Mr. Seed's report on them, dated the 13th February, 1872, and printed in E.-2, "Further Papers relative to the San Francisco Mail Service," presented to the General Assembly in the session of 1872. Cook's Islands. This group of islands, which lie scattered over a considerable space, extending from lat. 18° 54' S. to 21° 57' S., and from long. 157° 20' W. to 160° W., without any intimate connection between each other, consists of nine or ten separate islands, the greater part of which were discovered by Cook; hence the appropriateness of their collective appellation.

I.—The Islands generally: Mr. Seed.