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island is Babolthouap, 28 miles by 14, containing a mountain from whose summit a view of the whole group is obtained. As seen from the sea the islands appear mountainous and rugged; but the soil is rich and fertile, and water is abundant. Bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, bananas, sugar-cane, lemons, oranges, and other tropical trees and fruits, are grown. Cattle, fowls, and goats thrive, and fish abound on the coasts. The inhabitants, who are estimated at about 10,000 in number, arc of the Malay race. They show considerable ingenuity in building their canoes, are active agriculturists, and entertain exceedingly primitive notions regarding dress, as the men go entirely naked, and the women nearly so. In 1783 the " Antelope" was wrecked upon the Pelew Islands, and the crow wore treated by the natives with the greatest kindness. Further acquaintance with white men, however, seems to have altered their disposition, and several vessels, while visiting these islands, within comparatively recent years, hare narrowly escaped being cut off. The islands are said to have been discovered by the Spaniards in 1545. Ladeoses Islands. A group of about twenty islands, the northernmost Australasian group, in lat. 13 \° to 20i° N., and long. 1451° to 147° E. They are disposed in a row, almost due north and south. Their united area is about 1,254 square miles. They are mountainous, well watered and wooded. Among the trees are the bread-fruit, banana, the cocoa-nut; fruitful in rice, maize, cotton, and indigo. European domestic animals are now very common. At the time when they were discovered the population was reckoned at 100,000, but the present population is only about 5,500. The inhabitants, who are docile, religious, kind, and hospitable, resemble in physiognomy those of the Philippine Islands. The islands are very important to the Spaniards in a commercial point of view. The largest island is Gruajan, 90 miles in circumference ; on it is the capital, San Ignacio de Agamea, the seat of the Spanish Governor. Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos Islands are a group lying on the equator, extending I\° on each side of it, and about GOO miles from the west coast of the Republic of Ecuador, to which they belong. There are six principal islands, nine smaller, and many islets, scarcely deserving to bo distinguished from mere rocks. The largest island, Albemarle, is 60 miles in length and about 15 miles broad, the highest point being 4,700 feet above the level of the sea. The constitution of the whole is volcanic. With the exception of some ejected fragments of granite, which have been most curiously glazed and altered by the heat, every part consists of lava, or of sandstone resulting from the attrition of such materials. The higher islands generally have one or more principal craters towards their centre, and in their flanks smaller orifices. Mr. Darwin affirms that there must tie, in all the islands of the archipelago, at least 2,000 craters. Considering that these islands are placed directly under the equator, the climate is far from being excessively hot—a circumstance which, perhaps, is chiefly owing to the singularly low temperature of the surrounding sea.

West Indies (1871).

Java. Area of Java, including Madura, is 51,33G English square miles. Population, according to census of 1871, 16,452,168, or 320 per square mile. The population has nearly quadrupled since the year 181 G. Imports in 1870, merchandise ... ... ... ... ... ... •■• £3,704,229 Do. specie 197,413 £3,902,341 in 1870, merchandise £5,102,353 Do. specie ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ••■ 361,830 £5,464,183 The principal articles of «xport from Java arc sugar, coffee, rice, indigo, and tobacco. With the exception of rice, about one-half of which is shipped from Borneo and China, nearly four-fifths of these exports go to the Netherlands. The exports from Java to the United Kingdom in 1871 consisted principally of rice, of the value of £383,757. The chief articles of British home produce imported into Java in 1871 was cottons, including 331—0 cotton

Name. Area : Square miles. Population. Total Imports. Total Exports. Bahamas ... Turk Islands Jamaica Leeward Islands ... St. Lucia ... St. Vincent Barbadoes ... Grenada Tobago Trinidad ... ... ... ... British Guiana 3,021 420 0,400 731 250 131 166 133 97 1,754 76,000 39,1G2 4,723 441,264 117,732 31,811 35,688 162,042 37,795 17,054 109,638 193,491 £ 283,970 35,345 1,300,212 506,149 190,286 137,474 1,069,861 104,475 61,448 1,042,678 1,572,275 £ 190,253 18,855 1,283,030 070,457 147,172 221,140 973,020 127,184 82,616 1,277,574 2,383,422 Total, West Indies ... 89,103 1,190,400 0,310,173 7,374,729