Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

CELEBES.»219praus, which are exported to all the neighbouring archipelagoes. Two-thirds ofthe inhabitants are centred in Great Kei, the largest member of the group ; butDula, the most frequented station, lies in Little Kei, on a deep inlet well shelteredby a chain of insular hills. Recently some planters have settled in the islands,the chief products of which are holothuria; and tortoise-shell, both of excellentquality.Celebes axu aojacext Islands.Celebes, which in extent tukes the third, in population and commercial importancethe fourth place in Indonesia, vies with Java itself for romantic beauty andthe variety of its natural phenomena. It consists, so to say, of a framework of peninsularranges, radiating from a central nucleus, and enclosing extensive marineinlets, which, vmlike those of Borneo, have not yet been transformed to alluvialplains. Northwards the peninsula of Gorontalo and Minahassa sweeps round in adouble curve to the north and east. In the centre two other peninsular massesproject north-east to the Molucca waters and south-east to the Bauda Sea ; lastly,in the south is developed the ilacassar peninsula, stretching due south to theFlores Sea. Thanks to this extraordinary conformation Celebes, with an area ofabout 75,000 square miles, has a coastline of no less than 3,500 miles, excluding thesecondary indentations. In other words, although little over one-third the size ofFrance, it has a seaboard equal in extent to that of France and the Iberian Peninsulataken together.This eccentric island, ever^-^'here so easily accessible from the sea, and, moreover,enjoying an extremely fertile soil and a superabundance of natural resources,is nevertheless almost destitute of inhabitants. Were it as denselj* peopled asJava, it would have a population of some thirty millions, whereas, according to theapproximate estimates the actual population is little over three-quarters of a million.But although nominally under the Dutch rule, most of the interior is still occupiedby Alfurus, that is, wild tribes for the most part living in isolated and hostilegroups. In many places head-hunters still prowl about the villages, and tillrecently the neighbouring waters were infested by corsairs, continually sweepingdown on the natives and carrying them off into slavery. Nor was the Dutch occupationeffected without many sanguinary struggles, not always to the advantageof the invaders. The Europeans appeared first as guests, and the early conflictswere connected with questions of trade rights. Then the Dutch presentedthemselves as rivals of the Portuguese in 1660, when they seized the fort ofMacassar, long their only possession on the coast. Later they concluded a treatyof alliance and a protectorate with several petty states in the south-westernpeninsula, and since that time they have omitted no occasion of strengtheningtheir position in the island. Yet in most of the inland states they are stillunrepresented by any officials,' and even the coast districts are visited only at longintervals.Celebes has not yet been completely explored, and some parts are known only