LOYALTY ISLANDS, a group in the South Pacific, about 60 miles east of New Caledonia, consisting of Uvea or Uea (the northmost), Lifu, Toka and several small islands, and Mare or Nengone. They are coral islands of comparatively recent elevation, and in no place rise more than 250 feet above the level of the sea. Lifu, the largest, is about 50 miles in length by 25 in breadth. Enough of its rocky surface is covered with a thin coating of soil to enable the natives to grow yams, taro, bananas, &c., for their support; cotton thrives well, and has even been exported in small quantities, but there is no space available for its cultivation on any considerable scale. Fresh water, rising and falling with the tide, is found in certain large caverns, and, in fact, by sinking to the sea-level a supply may be obtained in any part of the island. The popula tion, about 7000, is on the decrease. The island called Neugone by the natives and Mare by the inhabitants of the Isle of Pines is about 80 miles in circumference, and contains about 6000 souls. Uvea, the most recent part of the group, consists of a circle of about twenty islets enclosing a lagoon 20 miles in width; the largest is about 30 miles in length, and in some places 3 miles wide, and the next largest is about 12 miles in length. The inhabitants, numbering about 2500, export considerable quantities of cocoa-nut oil....