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LOYALTY ISLANDS (Fr. Iles Loyalty or ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 80 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LOYALTY ISLANDS (Fr. Iles Loyalty or Loyaute) , a See also:group in the See also:South Pacific Ocean belonging to See also:France, about See also:loo m. E. of New See also:Caledonia, with a See also:total See also:land See also:area of about 1050 sq. m. and 20,000 inhabitants. It consists of Uea or Uvea (the See also:northern-most), Lifu (the largest See also:island, with an area of 65o sq. m.), Tiga and several small islands and See also:Mare or Nengone. They are See also:coral islands of comparatively See also:recent See also:elevation, and in no See also:place rise more than 250 ft. above the level of the See also:sea. Enough of the rocky See also:surface is covered with a thin coating of See also:soil to enable the natives to grow yams, taro, bananas, &c., for their support; See also:cotton thrives well, and has even been exported in small quantities, but there is no space available for its cultivation on any considerable See also:scale. Fresh See also:water, rising and falling with the See also:tide, is found in certain large caverns in Lifu, and by sinking to the sea-level a See also:supply may be obtained in any See also:part of the island. The See also:chief product of the islands are bananas ; the chief export See also:sandal-See also:wood. The Loyalty islanders are Melanesians; the several islands have each its See also:separate See also:language, and in Uea one tribe uses a Samoan and another a New Hebridean See also:form of speech. The Loyalty group was discovered at the beginning of the 19th See also:century, and See also:Dumont d'Urville laid down the several islands in his See also:chart. For many years the natives had a reputation as dangerous cannibals, but they are now among the most civilized Melanesians. See also:Christianity was introduced into Mare by native teachers from Rarotonga and See also:Samoa; missionaries were settled by the See also:London Missionary Society at Mare in 18J4, at Lifu in 1859 and at Uea in 1865: See also:Roman See also:Catholic missionaries also arrived from New Caledonia; and in 1864 the See also:French, considering the islands a See also:LOYOLA dependency of that See also:colony, formally instituted a commandant.

An See also:

attempt was made by this See also:official to put a stop to the See also:English See also:missions by violence; but the See also:report of his conduct led to so much indignation in See also:Australia and in See also:England that the See also:emperor See also:Napoleon, on See also:receipt of a protest from See also:Lord See also:Shaftesbury and others, caused a See also:commission of inquiry to be appointed and See also:free See also:liberty of See also:worship to be secured to the See also:Protestant missions. A further persecution of Christians in Uea, during 1875, called forth a protest from the See also:British See also:government.

End of Article: LOYALTY ISLANDS (Fr. Iles Loyalty or Loyaute)

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