Queen Elizabeth II 25th Anniversary Coronation First Day Cover, New Hebrides (French Issue) postmarked on June 2, 1978.
New Hebrides (French Issue)
Consisting of twelve principal and many smaller islands in the southwest Pacific, the New Hebrides he 1100 miles east of Australia. Of volcanic origin, the islands have rugged mountains, high plateaus, offshore coral reefs and three active volcanoes, and are under joint British and French control, the French Governor of New Caledonia, and the British High Commissioner for the Western Pacific Isles in the Solomons both being represented by local commissioners.
New Hebridean Melanesians, unlike Polynesians, have no hereditary nobility, status being achieved by individual ability in bravery, gardening, and especially oratory, since knowledge and cosmology are largely transmitted by traditional speeches and myths. Individual amassing of wealth is also of importance, but for distribution among family, friends and neighbours rather than in the Western mould. Dances im- personate mythical heroes and ancestors, rather than ornament poetry as in Polynesia; and aim at spontaneous group rhythm rather than at rehearsed poetic perfection.
The Gallic Cock was adopted as a French emblem after the defeat of the Spanish at La Quesnay, in 1665. The local hen (or megapode) is sombre coloured, with bare forehead and throat, showing red skin, and its legs are also red. The bird is unusual in that it incubates its eggs in heaps of scratched-together decaying leaves and forest litter; in soil, sand or hot volcanic ash. When the chicks claw their way out they are already well developed, and can fly as soon as their plumage dries, requiring no parental assistance. In fact, they usually never know their parents.
As a result of this strange behaviour, the bird has great significance for the New Hebrideans, being seen as the embodiment of illicit love (illigitimate children are often referred to as megapode eggs). The egg of the megapode is used in sacrificial ceremonies to bring benefit to new-born children, since the bird is also considered, like the shark, swordfish, grouper and stingray, to be a 'changeling' capable of human- beast interchangeably on death. Information on the White Horse of Hanover is given on the New Hebrides English issue page.
