[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

NOUMEA AND PORT VILA 23

Vila is merely the administration centre, and
consists of nothing but a few stores and the houses
of the Condominium officials. There is little life, and
only the arrival of the ships brings some excitement,
so that the stranger feels bored and lonely, especially
as the “blood-house" does not offer many comforts
and the society there is not of the choicest.

I immediately went to present my letters of intro-
duction to the French Resident. The offices of the
British Residence were still on the small island of
Iariki, which I could not reach without a boat. The
French Residence is a long, flat, unattractive build-
ing; the lawn around the house was fairly well kept,
but perfectly bare, in accordance with the French
idea of salubrity, except for a few straggling bushes
near by. Fowls and horses promenaded about. But
the view is one of the most charming to be found in
the islands. Just opposite is the entrance to the bay,
and the two points frame the sea most effectively,
numerous smaller capes deepening the perspective.
Along their silhouettes the eye glides into far spaces,
to dive beyond the horizon into infinity. Iariki is
just in front, and we can see the well-kept park
around the British Residence, with its mixture of art
and wilderness; near by is the smooth sea shining in
all colours. While the 'shores are of a yellowish
green, the sea is of every shade of blue, and the
green of the depths is saturated with that brilliant
turquoise tint which is enough to put one into a light
and happy humour. This being my first sight of a
tropical landscape, my delight was great, and made