Thus I Was Obliged, As It Were By Necessity, For The First Time, To Leave A
Coast I Had Discovered, Before It Was Fully Explored.
- I called it New
Caledonia; and, if we except New Zealand, it is perhaps the largest island
in the South Pacific Ocean.
For it extends from the latitude of 19 deg. 37', to
22 deg. 30', S., and from the longitude of 163 deg. 37' to 167 deg. 14' E. It lies
nearly N.W. 1/2 W., and S.E. 1 E., and is about eighty-seven leagues long
in that direction; but its breadth is not considerable, not any where
exceeding ten leagues. It is a country full of hills and valleys; of
various extent both for height and depth. To judge of the whole by the
parts we were on, from these hills spring vast numbers of little rivulets,
which greatly contribute to fertilize the plains, and to supply all the
wants of the inhabitants. The summits of most of the hills seem to be
barren; though some few are cloathed with wood; as are all the plains and
valleys. By reason of these hills, many parts of the coast, when at a
distance from it, appeared indented, or to have great inlets between the
hills; but, when we came near the shore, we always found such places shut
up with low land, and also observed low land to lie along the coast between
the seashore and the foot of the hills.
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