Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/313

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

NEW HAVEN NEW IRELAND 301 growing commerce with Europe. The value of imports during the year ending June 30, 1874, was $1,066,174 ; f of exports, $592,903; entrances in the foreign trade, 95, tonnage 19,560 ; clearances, 51, 7,720 ; vessels belong- ing in the district, 167, 21,051, viz. : 142 sailing vessels, 13,499; 12 steamers, 4,900; and 13 unrigged craft, 2,652. There are 550 to 650 coastwise entrances and clearances annually. A capital of about $10,000,000 is invested in manufactures. Clocks are made here very ex- tensively, and are exported to the most distant countries. Carriage making is more largely carried on than in any other part of New Eng- land. Iron working, particularly in the light- er and more valuable products of that metal, and the manufacture of India-rubber goods, are prominent industries. Among the other productions are hay cutters, scales, boilers, brass ware, buttons, cars; coach lamps, lace, and trimmings; coffee pots, cutlery, files, fish hooks, needles, firearms, harnesses and sad- dles, ivory, jewelry, organs, melodeons, pianos, paper, pins, saws, corsets, shirts, and specta- cles. There are nine banks of deposit, with an aggregate capital of $4,664,000; a trust company, with $100,000 capital; four savings banks, with deposits amounting to $10,070,- 693 ; and two insurance companies, with a joint capital of $300,000. The city is divided into ten wards, and is governed by a mayor and a board of aldermen of two and a council of three members from each ward. There are efficient fire and police departments. The streets are well paved, drained, and lighted with gas. The principal charitable organiza- tions are the home for aged and destitute women, the home for the friendless, and two orphan asylums. The valuation of property in 1873 was $56,556,179; revenue, $807,421 ; ex- penditures, $726,910 90; city debt, $790,000. The public schools, besides a high, grammar, and primary schools, embrace two training schools for teachers, two truant schools for boys, two ungraded schools for neglected chil- dren, and evening schools for both sexes. The number of school houses occupied in 1873 was 24; number of rooms, 155; number of sittings, 8,151; teachers employed, 200 ; pupils enrolled, 8,807; average attendance, 6,850. The Hopkins grammar school, an incorporated institution es- tablished in 1660, is chiefly designed for pre- paring boys for Yale college. There are also a collegiate and commercial institute, and more than 20 private schools. The city has five daily, one semi- weekly, and nine weekly news- papers, and four monthly and one quarterly periodicals. The number of churches is 51, viz.: Baptist, 5; Congregational, 13; Episco- pal, 10; Jewish, 2; Lutheran, 1; Methodist, 11; Roman Catholic, 7; Second Advent, 1; Universal! st, 1. New Haven was settled in 1638 by a company chiefly from London under Theophilus Eaton, their first governor, and the Rev. John Davenport. It was a distinct colony till 1665, when after a protracted struggle it was united with Connecticut under the char- ter of 1662. It was incorporated as a city in 1784. From 1701 to 1875 New Haven was one of the state capitals. (See HAETFOED, vol. viii., p. 489.) NEW HEBRIDES, a group of volcanic islands in the S. Pacific ocean, N. E. of New Caledonia, between lat. 13 15' and 20 10' S., and Ion. 166 30' and 170 10' E. ; area, about 5,700 sq. m. ; pop. about 134,0.00. Besides a great number of islets and rocks, they comprise about 20 islands of considerable size, the most impor- tant of which are Espiritu Santo, 70 m. long by about 25 m. broad ; Mallicollo, 60 by 28 m., with a good harbor called Port Sandwich, in lat. 16 25' S., Ion. 167 46' E. ; Erromango, Tanna, Ambrim, Annatom, Banks, Sandwich, and Whitsuntide. Aurora, one of the most fer- tile of the group, said to have been 36 m. long by more than 5 m. broad, disappeared in 1871, leaving no trace of its existence. There is an active volcano in Tanna. Most of the islands are hilly, and there are high mountains. With the exception of Erromango and some smaller ones, they are all well wooded and supplied with good water, and present a luxuriant vege- tation. Sandal wood and ebony are found. Yams, taro, shaddocks, bananas, limes, cucum- bers, cocoanuts, and a species of sweet potato are cultivated. There are few animals; the most remarkable is a diminutive species of hog, which when full-grown is not larger than a rab- bit. The natives, of the Papuan negro race, are less intelligent than the other South sea islanders, and are accused of cannibalism. Their habits are disgusting, their persons filthy, and their faces smeared with turmeric and char- coal. The use of betel nut and chunam is gen- eral ; and the language is said to possess a simi- larity to the Malay. They have no canoes, and use a sort of raft, on which they only venture a few hundred yards from the shore. The group was discovered by Quiros in 1606 ; but he only saw the N. and largest island, and sup- posing it to be a portion of the long-sought southern continent, he named it Australia del Espiritu Santo. He speaks of it as one land, and made no attempt to verify his conjecture. Bougainville, more than a century and a half later, ascertained that the N. portion consisted of several islands, which he called the Great Cyclades. Cook discovered the greater part of the S. chain in 1773, and called the whole group the New Hebrides; and as his discov- ery much exceeded in extent those previously made, this name has superseded that applied by Bougainville. Erromango, one of the most southerly islands, was the scene of the murder of the well known missionary the Rev. John Williams (Nov. 20, 1839). NEW HOLLAND. See ATJSTEALIA. NEW IRELAND, an island in the S. Pacific ocean, between lat. 2 and 5 S., and Ion. 150 30' and 153 E. It is separated from New Brit- ain on the southwest by St. George's channel, and from New Hanover on the northwest by