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CHATHAM ISLANDS

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 7 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHATHAM ISLANDS , a small See also:group in the Pacific Ocean, forming See also:part of New See also:Zealand, 536 m. due E. of See also:Lyttelton in the See also:South See also:Island, about 440 S., 1770 W. It consists of three islands, a large one called Whairikauri, or Chatham Island, a smaller one, Rangihaute, or See also:Pitt Island, and a third, Rangatira, or South-See also:east Island. There are also several small rocky islets. Whairikauri, whose highest point reaches about r000 ft., is remarkable for the number of lakes and tarns it contains, and for the extensive bogs which See also:cover the See also:surface of nearly the whole of the uplands. It is of very irregular See also:form, about 38 m. inlength and 25 M. in extreme breadth, with an See also:area of 321 sq. M. —a little larger than See also:Middlesex. The See also:geological formation is principally of volcanic rocks, with See also:schists and See also:tertiary See also:limestone; and an See also:early See also:physical connexion of the islands with New Zealand is indicated by their See also:geology and See also:biology. The See also:climate is colder than that of New Zealand. In the centre of Whairikauri is a large brackish See also:lake called Tewanga, which at the See also:southern end is separated from the See also:sea by a sandbank only 150 yds. wide, which it occasionally bursts through. The southern part of the island has an undulating surface, and is covered either with an open See also:forest or with high ferns. In See also:general the See also:soil is extremely fertile, and where it is naturally drained a See also:rich vegetation of See also:fern and See also:flax occurs.

On the See also:

north-See also:west are several conical hills of See also:basalt, which are surrounded by oases of fertile soil. On the south-western See also:side is See also:Petre See also:Bay, on which, at the mouth of the See also:river Mantagu, is Waitangi, the See also:principal See also:settlement. The islands were discovered in 1791 by See also:Lieutenant W. R. See also:Broughton (1762-1821), who gave them the name of Chatham from the brig which he commanded. He described the natives as a See also:bright, See also:pleasure-loving See also:people, dressed in sealskins or mats, and calling, themselves Morioris or Maiorioris. In 1831 they were conquered by Boo Maoris who were landed from a See also:European See also:vessel. They were almost exterminated, and an epidemic of See also:influenza in 1839 killed See also:half of those See also:left; ten years later there were only 90 survivors out of a See also:total See also:population of 1200. They subsequently decreased still further. Their See also:language was allied to that of the Maoris of New Zealand, but they differed somewhat from them in physique, and they were probably a See also:cross between an immigrating Polynesian group and a See also:lower indigenous Melanesian stock. The population of the islands includes about 200 whites of various races and the same number of natives (chiefly Maoris). See also:Cattle and See also:sheep are bred, and a See also:trade is carried on in them with the whalers which visit these seas.

The See also:

chief export from the group is See also:wool, grown upon runs farmed both by Europeans and Morioris. There is also a small export by the natives of the flesh of See also:young albatrosses and other sea-birds, boiled down and cured, for the Maoris of New Zealand, by whom it is reckoned a delicacy. The imports consist of the usual commodities required by a population where little of the See also:land is actually cultivated. There are no indigenous mammals; the See also:reptiles belong to New Zealand See also:species. The birds—the largest See also:factor in the See also:fauna —have become vary greatly reduced through the introduction of See also:cats, See also:dogs and pigs, as well as by the See also:constant persecution of every sort of See also:animal by the natives. The larger See also:bell-See also:bird (Anthornis melanocephala) has become quite scarce; the magnificent See also:fruit-See also:pigeon (Carpophaga chathamensis), and the two endemic rails (Nesolimnas dieffenbachii and Cabalus modestus), the one of which was confined to Whairikauri and the other to Mangare Island, are See also:extinct. Several fossil or subfossil avian forms, very interesting from the point of view of See also:geographical See also:distribution, have been discovered by Dr H. O. See also:Forbes, namely, a true species of See also:raven (Palaeocorax moriorum), a remarkable See also:rail (Diaphora pteryx), closely related to the extinct A phanapteryx of See also:Mauritius, and a large See also:coot (Palaeolimnas chathaniensis). There have also been discovered the remains of a species of See also:swan belonging to the South See also:American genus Chenopis, and of the tuatara (Hatteria) See also:lizard, the unique species of an See also:ancient See also:family now surviving only in New Zealand. The swan is identical with an extinct species found in caves and See also:kitchen-middens in New Zealand, which was contemporaneous with the prehistoric Maoris and was largely used by them for See also:food. One of the finest of the endemic flowering See also:plants of the group is the boraginaceous " Chatham Island See also:lily " (Myositidium nobile), a gigantic forget-me-not, which grows on the shingly See also:shore in a few places only, and always just on the high-See also:water See also:mark, where it is daily deluged by the waves; while dracophyllums, leucopogons and arborescent ragworts are characteristic forms in the vegetation.

See See also:

Bruno See also:Weiss, Funfzig Jahre auf Chatham Island (See also:Berlin, 1900) ; H. O. Forbes, " The Chatham Islands and their See also:Story," Fortnightly See also:Review (1893), vol. H. p. 669, "The Chatham Islands, their relation to a former Southern See also:Continent," Supplementary. Papers, R.G.S., vol. iii. (1893); J. H. See also:Scott, " The See also:Osteology of the See also:Maori and the Moriori," Trans. New Zealand See also:Institute, vol. See also:xxvi. (1893) ; C. W.

See also:

Andrews, " The Extinct Birds of the Chatham Islands," Novitates Zoologicae, vol. ii. p. 73 (1896).

End of Article: CHATHAM ISLANDS

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