3-053-605 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in the Isle of Pines, New Caledonia, 1873. Engravings from photographs by Dr. Müller. '1. Parade; 2. Convicts' Houses; 3. Governor's House and Natives...The French penal convict settlement in the South Pacific Ocean...has latterly become the abode of many of the Paris Communists...The native race of men are like those of Papua or New Guinea, and do not seem capable of civilisation, but their numbers are rapidly decreasing...mosquitoes, vampires, and snakes are to be found here, and fever and dysentery are too common also...those [convicts] whose good conduct has deserved some indulgence...may work in the industrial creation of new villages, each protected by a small fort with a detachment of troops...One of these stations is on the Isle of Pines, thirty miles distant from the south-eastern extremity of New Caledonia...The French colonist-convicts have a variety of occupations in their new home. They may till the land, raising maize, sugar, cotton, bananas, and rice; or they may fell timber, gather gum, or net fish; but the most profitable thing is to catch and prepare trepang for the Chinese market. This is a gelatinous sort of fish...[which] are sent to Canton, and fetch a high price as the ingredient of a delicious Chinese soup'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.