. The earth and its inhabitants .. . MELANESIA. iLL the islands lying north-east of New Guinea as far as the equator have been declared German possessions by the treaty of partition with Great Britain. Towards the west the German waters are limited by the meridian of l4l° east longitude, but eastwards the Pacific Ocean is left open for future annexations. Till 1885 the limit was indicated by 154° east longitude, but that limit was effaced the next year when the north-western members of the Solomon group, Bougainville, Choiseul, Yzabel, and all the neighbouring lands to the north of 8° south la
. The earth and its inhabitants .. . MELANESIA. iLL the islands lying north-east of New Guinea as far as the equator have been declared German possessions by the treaty of partition with Great Britain. Towards the west the German waters are limited by the meridian of l4l° east longitude, but eastwards the Pacific Ocean is left open for future annexations. Till 1885 the limit was indicated by 154° east longitude, but that limit was effaced the next year when the north-western members of the Solomon group, Bougainville, Choiseul, Yzabel, and all the neighbouring lands to the north of 8° south latitude, were pro- claimed German territory. The islands thus officially annexed to the empire have an estimated superficial area of over 30,000 square miles, with a population of pro- bably about three hundred and fifty thousand. Like the New Guinea possessions, these insular groups are assigned to a trading company, which at the same time exercises political functions. According to the terms of the treaty the southern section of the Solomon Archi- pelago falls within the sphere of British influence. I.—North Melanesia: Admiralty, Bismarck and Solomon Islands. These oceanic lands are amongst those that have longest remained unnoticed. In 1567 Mendana, guided by the pilot Hernando Gallego, landed on Yzabel, one of the large islands to which he gave the collective name of the Solomon Archipelago, doubtless with the hope or pretension of having here discovered that auriferous " land of Ophir " whence the King of Judaea imported the gold for the Temple of Jerusalem. Mendana spent six months in exploring the islands, which he was at last obliged to leave through lack of provisions and water, after quarrelling with the natives whom he had come "to convert to the true ; Later he returned to colonise the archipelago which he had discovered, but died before reaching it. The route to the Solomon Islands was thus lost, and remained unknown for two hundred ye
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
