"Now it seems to me that we had better cross the equator with all expedition, for there are so many islands up here, we cannot possibly go to all, and I think we have noticed the most important." DORA. "South Polynesia then. Papua or New Guinea is my portion, and it happens to lie near the Pelew Isles. It is supposed to be the first part of Australia discovered by Europeans, and is the favorite residence of the superb and singular birds of paradise, of which there are ten or twelve kinds. There are three kinds reckoned the most gorgeous: viz., the King, which has two detached feathers parallel to the tail, ending in an elegant curl with a tuft: the Magnificent, which has also two detached feathers of the same length with the body, very slender, and ending in a tuft: the Golden Throat, which has three long and straight feathers proceeding from each side of the head. These birds are considered the best, but they are all arrayed in brilliant colors, and all superbly magnificent. They are caught chiefly in the Aroo Isles, either by means of bird-lime, or shot with blunted arrows. After being dried with smoke and sulphur, they are sold for nuts or pieces of iron and carried to Bunda." EMMA. "The New Hebrides are in my course, but the Friendly Isles are allotted to me." MRS. WILTON. "Nevertheless, the New Hebrides claim a few words. They were discovered in 1506, and so named by Captain Cook. They are considerably hilly, and well clothed with timber. The valleys are extremely abundant, producing figs, nutmegs, and oranges, besides the fruits common to the rest of Polynesia. The inhabitants present the most ugly specimen extant of the Papuan race; the men wear no covering, and the women, who are used as mere beasts of burden; wear only a petticoat, made from the plantain leaf. Their canoes are more rudely constructed than in most of the other islands; and, on the whole, these people seem to be among the most degraded of the islanders of the Pacific."