THE GERMAN SOLOMONS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2268, 30 September 1914, Page 6

THE GERMAN SOLOMONS.

&-: jTHEIR HISTORY, i The Solomon Islands are the largest >' and: most extensive group, of Islands in 'the Pacific, -and.as'they. are'sharcd by j ;-,-' Great Britain 'and Germany ortlyj-' the ! acquisition-b> 'the British of the Ger- .'. ', .man share wijl make-no small addition I- '. to".the territories of the Empire. The group." forms fi uoubln chain, of seven :.. large and-many-smaller islands; which ; : extends for over 600 miles'in a north- '■'; \vesterl.y. and south-easterly .direction, .:'the northern'''extremity beiiig within-}2O - ;:'' miles' -of New "Ireland, and-.-the south-, ; eastern, 200 miles only ..'from. Santa '•'.'' Oruzi; They are about 400 miles to the south-west of the mainland of New Gui. nea. . . .." '. " The Solomon Islands were discovered ' : asfarback'as'lSGT.by'dori Alvaro Men- . dana'.db'.lVleyfa, ,while on his first voy- ; .; ■. age in" search 'of King' Solomon's wealth. • :'■-.;. Being under, the impression .that ho had : reached his "goal, he named the islands ". ■;■ "lslas.de Salomon. 1 . 1 ". Mendana explor-. '. \ ed the group, and named, the three' ; . .southern •■ islands',Ysabel,''G,uadalcanar, '...■.' and-Sail-.Christo.val -respectively,- Men- .- dar.a then returned to .Callao,. from ", [---whence he had started'.,' Having been , i' greatly: impressed by the Solomon : Is- | J lands',"however, Mendana-conceived the -i ,:idpa-: of establishing a settlement there, ■ ' : . ' b'ntr'it was not until 1595 that he sue-' : . needed-rin-,-putting his project into of- ■ .. feet; -.y,'ln:.thati.-year.;vho,set ..off with ■• : four vessels,; and ;about.4Qo. people, and, -| .: on September-. 7,-,1595, the expedition sighted.and;'named Santa Cruz. Believing that : ho was in the Solomon Group, Mendana decided ty found his ;v., colony there/ and- landed; his-colonists •■ Cruz,, at'a; harbour, which .. ~ ho*'hanied; Graciosa Ba:y. ; The colony was 'doomed 'to 'misfortune, Mendana dying, and sickiices and disaster over-taking-tho settlers. The survivors of ' the"' expedition '.eventually found their ' ■ : way .back in .two,, of the four vessels, tho i ' other two having been lost. J v-Eor.-tho next two centuries the posi- i ■;.. tiou of tho Solomons remained uucer- ' "" tain;-if: not absolutely unknown. In 1767, however, Captain. Phillip Cartarct ' errivejd off ■■their- eastern shores in the ' Swallow, and sailed from Gower Island ] to the northern end of-the group, appar- ! : ently without identifying them with ' ;;.'' discoveries of two centuries ' before. .Do Bougainvillp followed close- '' ly~oh Cartarct in 17G8, and, in the fol- ' . lowing year, Surville, in the St. ■ Jeau \ . Bnptisto, mado a protracted stay in ! ~, ■ the Solomons as a result of which they wero: recognised as "Islas c do Salomon," ' In 1788 Shortland discovered New • ; .'. '.'Georgia;.-and in 1792 Manning sailed ' through tho.-straits between Isabel and Ohoiseul. Bruny IVEntrecasteanx, But- , lor, Williamsou, in tho Indispensable, nnd'Dumont D'Urvillc in the Astrolable,' :>.. took up the -survey in rotation, after ""which from 1845, when the French Ma.risb -Fathers went to .Ysabel and traders and other missionaries descended on tho group, no great advance was ' mode up to 1873, when it became a ! recruiting ground for the Queensland |- arid Fiji labour vessels. < •The ownership of'tho Solomons was ' . shared between Great Britain and Ger- ' many, the first agreement regarding ' the.division of the group was made in ' 1886, resulting in a fairly equal por- ' tionment of the island. At this timo ' the German, possessions in the Sold- ! mons, commencing from the north-west- ' ern end, woro Buka, Bougainville, Short- 1 land Islands, Üboiseul, and Ysabel. On 1 Novombor 14, 1809, another, Anglo-Gor-- i man agreement was arrived at in which -1 in return for territorial concessions in 1 the Samoan Group, Germany ceded to I Britain the islands of Choiseul and • Ysabel, and also the Shortland Group. : With the exception of Buka and Bou-' I gainvillo, tho Solomons aro now all .1 British. ■ ,'-. ' I Tho beauty and fertility of the Solo- | mons are- proverbial, ■ tho vegetation being especially luxuriant. The islands ' produce largo quantities of. cocoanuts, i and copra forms tho principal item of i export. .1