groups, New Caledonia and Fiji), but in some cases they are
wholly absent or nearly so (e.g. the eastern Solomon Islands and
the New Hebrides). Of the Polynesian Islands, the Hawaiian
chain presents the type of a volcanic group through which coral
reefs are not equally distributed. The main island of Hawaii
and Maui at the east end are practically without reefs; which,
however, are abundant farther west. Round the volcanic
Marquesas Islands, again, coral is scanty, but the Society
Islands, Samoa and Tonga have extensive reefs. The various
minor groups to the north of these (Ellice, Phoenix, Union,
Manihiki and the America Islands) are coral islands. Christmas,
one of the last-named, is reputed to be the largest lagoon island
in the Pacific. The Paumotu Archipelago is the most extensive
of the coral groups.
The coral islands are generally of the form well known under the name of atoll, rising but slightly above sea-level, flat, and generally of annular form, enclosing a lagoon. Often, as has been said, the atoll is divided into a number of islets, but in some smaller atolls the ring is complete, and the sea-water gains access beneath the surface of the reef to the lagoon within, where it is sometimes seen to spout up at the rise of the tide. Besides the atolls there is a type of island which has been called the elevated coral island. The Loyalty Islands exhibit this type, in which former reefs appear as low cliffs, elevated above the sea, and separated from it by a level coastal tract. The island of Mare shows evidence of three such elevations, three distinct cliffs alternating with level tracts. For the much debated question as to the conditions under which atolls and reefs are formed, see Coral Reefs. As to the local distribution of reefs, it has been maintained that in the case of active volcanic islands which have no reefs, their absence is due to subterranean heat. The contour of the sea-bed, however, has been shown to influence this distribution, the continuation of the slope of a steep shore beneath the sea being adverse to their formation, whereas on a gentler slope they may be formed.
Flora.—In considering the flora of the islands it is necessary to distinguish between the rich vegetation of the fertile volcanic islands and the poor vegetation of the coral islands. Those plants which are widely distributed are generally found to be propagated from seeds which can easily be carried by the wind or by ocean currents, or form the food of migratory birds. The tropical Asiatic element predominates on the low lands; types characteristic of Australia and New Zealand occur principally on the upper parts of the high islands. In Hawaii there are instances of American elements. In the volcanic islands a distinction may be observed between the windward and leeward flanks, the moister windward slopes being the more richly clothed. But almost everywhere the vegetation serves to smooth the contours of the rugged hills, ferns, mosses and shrubs growing wherever their roots can cling, and leaving only the steepest crags uncovered to form, as in Tahiti, a striking contrast. The flora is estimated to include 15% of ferns, but they form only the most important group among many plants of beautiful foliage, such as draceanas and crotons. Flowering plants are numerous, and the natives often (as in Hawaii) greatly appreciate flowers, which thus add a feature to the picturesqueness of island life, though they do not usually grow in great profusion. Fruits are abundant, though indigenous fruits are few; the majority have been introduced by missionaries and others. Oranges are often plentiful, also pine-apples, guavas, custard-apples, mangoes and bananas. These last are of special importance, and the best kind, the Chinese banana, is said to have sprung from a plant given to the missionary John Williams, and cultivated in Samoa. The natives live very largely on vegetable food, among the most important plants which supply them being the taro, yam, banana, bread-fruit, arrow-root, pandanus and coco-nut. The last constitutes a valuable article of commerce in the form of copra, from which palm oil is expressed; the natives make use of this oil in made dishes, and also of the soft half-green kernel and the coco-nut “milk,” the clear liquid within the nut. Their well-known drink, kava, is made from a variety of pepper-plant. The most characteristic trees are the coco-nut palm, pandanus and mangrove. The low coral islands suffer frequently from drought; their soil is sandy and unproductive, and in some cases the natives attempt cultivation by excavating trenches and fertilizing them with vegetable and other refuse.
Fauna.—The indigenous fauna of the islands is exceedingly poor in mammals, which are represented mainly by rats and bats. Pigs have been held to be indigenous on some islands, but were doubtless introduced by early navigators. Cattle and horses, where introduced, are found to degenerate rather rapidly unless the supply of fresh stock is kept up. Birds are more numerous than mammals, among the most important kinds being the pigeons and doves, especially the fruit-eating pigeons. Megapodes are found in the Solomon Islands, the New Hebrides, Samoa, Tonga, the Carolines and the Marianas. The remarkable didunculus occurs in Samoa, and after the introduction of cats and rats, which preyed upon it, was compelled to change its habits dwelling in trees instead of on the ground. Insect life is rich in northern Melanesia; in southern Melanesia it is less so; in Fiji numerous kinds of insects occur, while individual numbers are small. In the rest of the islands the insect fauna is poor. But if this is true of the land fauna as a whole, especially on the atolls, where it consists mainly of a few birds, lizards and insects, the opposite is the case with the marine fauna. Fish are exceedingly abundant, especially in the lagoons of atolls, and form an important article of food supply for the natives, who are generally expert fishermen. The fish fauna of the islands is especially noted for the gorgeous colouring of many of the species. Among marine mammals, the dugong occurs in the parts about New Guinea and the Caroline Islands. Various sorts of whale are found, and the whaling industry reached the height of its importance about the middle of the 19th century In considering the marine fauna the remarkable palolo or balolo should be mentioned. This annelid propagates its kind by rising to the surface and dividing itself. The occurrence of this process can be predicted exactly for one day, before sunrise, in October and November, and as both the worm and the fish which prey on it are appreciated by the natives as food the occasions of its appearance are of great importance to them.
History.—Not long after the death of Columbus, and when the Portuguese traders, working from the west, had hardly reached the confines of the Malay Archipelago, the Spaniard Vasco Nuñez de Balboa crossed America at its narrowest part and discovered the great ocean to the west of it (1513). The belief in the short and direct westward passage from Europe to the East Indies was thus shaken, but it was still held that some passage was to be found, and in 1519–1521 Fernão de Magalhães (Magellan) made the famous voyage in which he discovered the strait which bears his name. Sailing thence north-westward for many weeks, over a sea so calm that he named it El Mar pacifico, he sighted only two small islands. These may have been Puka Puka of the Tuamotu Archipelago and Flint Island; but it may be stated here that the identification of islands sighted by the early explorers is often a matter of conjecture, and that therefore some islands of which the definite discovery must be dated much later had in fact been seen by Europeans at this early period. In this narrative the familiar names of islands are used, irrespective of whether they were given by the first or later discoverers, or are native names. Magellan reached the “Ladrones” (Marianas) in 1521, and voyaged thence to the Philippines, where he was killed in a local war. In 1522–1524 various voyages of discovery were made on the west coast of America, partly in the hope of finding a strait connecting the two oceans to the region of the central isthmus. In 1525–1527 Garcia Jofre de Loyasa sailed to the Moluccas, but, like Magellan, missed the bulk of the oceanic islands. About this time, however, the Portuguese sighted the north coast of New Guinea. Fuller knowledge of this coast was acquired by Alvaro de Saavedra (1527–1529), and among later voyages those of Ruy Lopez de Villalobos (1542–1545) and Miguel Lopez de Legaspi (1564–1565) should be mentioned. These, however, like others of the period, did not greatly extend the knowledge of the Pacific islands, for the course between the Spanish American and Asiatic possessions did not lead voyagers among the more extensive archipelagoes. For the same reason the British and Dutch fleets which sailed with the object of harrying the Spaniards, under Sir Francis Drake (1577–1580), Thomas Cavendish (1586–1593) and Oliver van Noort (1598–1601), were not, as regards the Pacific, of prime geographical importance. But the theory of the existence of a great southern continent was now also attracting voyagers. Alvaro Mendaña de Neyra, after crossing a vast extent of ocean from Peru and sighting only one island, probably in the Ellice group, reached the Solomon Islands. In 1595–1596 he made a second voyage, and though he did not again reach these islands, the development of which was his objective, he discovered the Marquesas Islands, and afterwards Santa Cruz, where, having attempted to found a settlement, he died. Thereafter his pilot, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, set out with the remainder of the company to make for the Philippines, and on
