NEW FOREST, a district in the SW. of Hampshire, 14 m. from N. to S. and 16 m. wide, and consisting of 92,000 acres, of which 62,000 belong to the crown demesnes; one-fourth of the area consists of enclosed plantations, chiefly of oak and beech, the rest being open woodland, bog, and heath; Lyndhurst is the principal town.

NEW GUINEA, the largest island in the world (excluding the island continents of Australia and Greenland), lies N. of Australia, from which it is divided by Torres Strait (90 m. wide); is an irregular, mountainous, well-rivered territory, 10 times the size of Scotland, and is held by three European powers—­the Dutch (200) in the western and least developed half; the German (100); in the NE., Kaiser Wilhelm’s Land, administered by the German New Guinea Company, who export tobacco, areca, bamboo, ebony, &c.; and the British (135), in the SE., administered by the Commonwealth of Australia.  Successful encouragement has been given to colonisation, and good exports of gold pearl-shells, copra, &c., are made.  Much of the interior is still to explore, and is inhabited by Papuans, Negritoes, and other Melanesian tribes, many of which are still in the cannibal stage, although others are peaceful and industrious.  A hot moist climate gives rise to much endemic fever, but encourages a wonderful profusion of tropical growth, giving place in the highlands to the hardier oak and pine, and still higher to a purely alpine flora; as in Australia, the animals are chiefly marsupials; the mountain ranges, which stretch in a more or less continuous line throughout the island, have peaks that touch an altitude of 20,000 ft. and send down many navigable streams.  Port Moresby is the capital of the British portion.

NEW HAMPSHIRE (377), the second most northerly of the NEW ENGLAND STATES (q. v.), and from the beauty of its lake and mountain scenery called the “Switzerland of America,” lies N. and S. between Quebec province and Massachusetts, while the Atlantic washes part of its eastern borders; is more engaged in manufactures than in agriculture, and obtains valuable water-power and waterway from its rivers, the Piscataqua, Merrimac, and Connecticut; Manchester, on the Merrimac, is the largest city.

NEW HAVEN (108), capital of New Haven county, Connecticut, and chief city and seaport of the State, at the head of New Haven Bay, 4 m. from Long Island Sound, and 73 m.  NE. of New York; is a finely built city, and, since 1718, has been the seat of Yale College; is an important manufacturing centre, producing rifles, iron-ware of all kinds, carriages, clocks, &c., was up till 1873 joint capital of the State with Harford.

NEW HEBRIDES (70), a group of some 30 volcanic Islands (20 inhabited) in the Western Pacific, lying W. of the Fiji Islands and NE. of New Caledonia; is nominally a possession of Britain, and inhabited by cannibals of the Melanesian race.  Missionary enterprise has had some effect in the southern islands; Espiritu Santo (70 m. by 40) is the largest.