Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

202 AUSTEAI.AglA.The Strait of Lombok separating the two islands, altlioiigh little more ttantwenty miles broad at its narrowest point, has a deptb of no less than fire Inmdredfathoms. This apparently unimportant ehannel may thus be said to form thenatural limit of the shallow Java Sea, which has an average depth of considerablyless than one hundred fathoms. The current in the Strait sets with a meanvelocitj^ of four miles an hour in the direction from south to north, andWallace has shown that for the distribution of animal and vegetable species thispassage forms in many respects the chief parting-line between the Indian andAustralian domains. The Areng palm (areiiga sacrharifera) is not found inLombok, which also lacks the teak, orchids, heaths, and mosses peculiar to theJavanese flora.In the animal kingdom the differences are still greater, Lombok possessingneither the tiger nor any other members of the feline family. Most of theJavanese and Balinese birds are alsounknown in the neighbouring island, whichon the other hand possesses several Australian species, amongst others the remarkabletncf/cqwdius gouldii, a species ofturkey, which buries its eggs under a heap ofearth and foliage 6 or 7 feet high and 40 in circumference. Here also arefound the Australian cockatoos, which, however, reach as far west as the isletof Paudita (Penida), separated only by shallow water from Bali. But thetransition of species may be followed from island to island, and according toMartin, the true parting- line between the Asiatic and Australian forms should beplaced rather to the north-west of Timor.Like Java and Bali, Lombok is intersected by two parallel ridges, sedimentaryin the south and volcanic in the north. The former, which scarcely exceeds 1,000feet in height, is continued both east and west beyond the coast-line, and is intersectedat certain points by a few prominent masses of scorice. It is also connectedwith the northern volcanoes by some still older eruptive tufas, which form in thecentre of the island a water-parting for the streams flowing in one directiontowards Lombok Strait, in another to that of Alias.The volcanic chain begins over against Bali with Mount TVangsit (4,000 feet),which is followed eastwards by several other extinct cones. The system mergestowards the middle of the range in the massive Renjani group, from the centre ofwhich rises the peak of .Api, or " Fire," whence are still emitted wreaths ofsul^Aurous vapour. The highest summit of this group, usually known as theLombok peak, is one of the loftiest, if not the culminating point of Indonesia ;but this majestic cone has not yet been ascended, and its altitude is variouslyestimated at from 11,000 to 13,800 feet.The Sasaks, who form the great bulk of the population, differ physically butlittle from the Balinese and speak a language of the same stock, but approachingnearer to the Sumbawa dialect, although written with the Balinese alphabet. Thenatives are all Mohammedans, but disj^laj' little religious fervour, as is shown bythe general absence of mosques. Politically they are subject to the Balineseintruders, who are represented by a colony of about twenty thousand scatteredover the western parts of the island.