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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 See also: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) .

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