The age-herald., 1898-09-04
ENGLAND'S
 NEW POSSESSIONS
From the Chicago Times-TIerald.

trouble of going to war. The latest addi- tions are two bunches--one of seven and the other of eleven-eighteen in all These islands are known the Santa Cruz and Duff Islands. They are so far off the track of ordinary vessels that they are seldom visited. Ships seldom go there more than once twice year, and sometimes 1t will be several years between the journeys. Al few weeks ago the British warship Mo. hawk stopped at the two groups, taking them in turn and, raising the British flag. took formal possession.
 The two groups, which are practically one, are spread over 700 miles of water. The biggest island of them all is Santa Cruz, which is about 200O miles north of New Zealand and about 200 miles from the New Hebrides islands. Santa Cruz, the largest and most important island of the two groups, is in latitude 10 degrees 40 minutes south and longitude l66 degrees east
 The islands part of the great nums Der of volcanic formation that are so nus merous in the South Pacific north of Aus tralia, and the work of gathering in which has been so rapidly prosecuted by Europe- nations during the last twenty years.
  lection" of a European power, there is some pretext for the act. What it was in this is not known. It is not the right of discovery, for the island of Santa Cruz was known in the sixteenth century, having been discovered by a Spanish navigator, Alvardoe Mendana, who, with a squadron of four ships, was looking for the Solomon islands, where he intended to found col- ony. He missed the Solomon islands, but decided to settle at Santa Cruz, and found- ed city, while he tried to Christianize the natives. They learned only to make the sign of the cross. There were constant struggles with the natives, and as the islands were not particularly desirable for colonization, the Spaniards returned to their own country.
 From that time until 17SS, when La Pe- rouse's expedition was shipwrecked and the Europeans massacred, nothing was heard of the islands. Since then they have been visited by occasional parties of missiona- ries, and now and then a sailing vessel has called at them.
 Cannibalism prevails on the islands to this very day Many of the missionaries have been eaten by the natives, and it was as late as 1856 that Bishop Patterson was murdered with his followers by the cans nibals he attempted to convert Again In 1875 Captain Goodenough, the commander of vessel that halted at Santa Cruz was killed, and from time to time reports have come since of he massacre of missionaries, chiefly English, who have become victims of the cannibals. It may be that some act xR ttxaJt. tzivx with pretext for bringing them into Brit- ish domain.
 Cannibalism is, however, not so prevalent on the Island of Santa Cruz as on the smaller islands, where the natives engage in constant war with each other and the victors devour the vanquished. The inhab- itants vary in nearly every island. The in- fusion of Polynesian blood has made the in- habitants of Santa Cruz rather fairer than the others, but the general type of the peo- pie is an ugly one, below the middle height. fairer than the average typical Papuan, with low, reeeding foreheads, broad faces and flat noses.
 In addition to their cannibalistic habits they retain others of the primitive races. Nose and ear rings are worn; and very often nothing else Old-fashioned muskets are used as weapons by some of the more fortunate, but bows and arrows, spears and clubs like fails, studded with sharks teeth. are the favorite weapons Their houses are round huts with pitched roofs, but they are scrupulously clean and ornamented with Towering shrubs.
 
 The primitive religions of the natives would prove fruitful field of study for the
 
 cerieS and the head priests practice a kind of voodooism and retain their hold upon their more ignorant fellow tribesmen by simple tricks of magic. Their gods are their ancestors, and dead chiefs are worshiped: each island having its own series of local divinities. Worship is sometimes paid to stones and other inanimate objects, in which the dead ancestors are supposed to have taken their abode after their depar- ture from this life. To these idols offerings are made, and skulls have been found piled in native temples. The usual offering how ever. is shell money, which latter forms the sole medium of exchange among the simple natives.
 There is but little intercourse between the islands, as the only boats used by the na- tives are small canoes, in which they do not dare to venture any great distance. The result has been great variety in lan- guages and dialects, and the Iia.ives Of C--e island would find it difficult to converse with others. The rulers, now suppianted by the deputy high commissioner for the Pa cinc islands of Great Britain," who repre- sents her Britannia majesty, are petty chiefs, each island having its own and s~metimes more than half a dozen, who fight for the leadership in the few square miles of territory. In nearly every island, however, there is kind of town meeting. the heads of the families attending coun- cls held on important occasions in the open air under the shade of a great banyan tree.
 Engand's new possessions are as beaut- full and fertile as the other tropical isles of the Pacific. There are splendid harbors on the coast. which are free from reefs. Veg l. citation of all kinds grows luxuriantly, and there is plenty of good water There could be no better place to live lazy life. But anyone who wishes to go there a coonist should be a vegetarian, for animals are