The Melanesians

A detailed black-and-white engraving titled "Stone Building at Gaua." It depicts several structures with thick walls made of large, flat-faced stone blocks and tall, upright monoliths. The buildings have steeply pitched, thatched roofs. The scene is set in a tropical environment with palm trees and dense foliage. A human figure stands near one of the central stone pillars, and two pigs are lying on the ground in the lower-right foreground.

Gaua, also known as Santa Maria, is the largest island in the Banks Islands group of Vanuatu, formerly known as the New Hebrides. The monoliths (large, single standing stones) depicted here were historically significant in the social and ceremonial life of the Melanesian people.