The New Hebrides group of islands was first fully made known to Europe by Captain Cook, who in the year 1774 spent forty-six days among them. Situated in the Southern Pacific, about 1,400 miles N.E. of Sydney, the total number of islands is nearly eighty, the largest of which has a coastline of 200 miles. The islands are mainly of volcanic origin and lie in a direction from S.S.E. to N.N.W. Volcanic action is almost exactly in the direction of the group of islands, and a line drawn from the volcano of Tanna in the south to the volcano of Tinakula in the north, a distance of 600 miles, would pass through the volcanoes of Lopevi, Ambrym, Ureparapara, and the boiling springs of Vanua Levu.