Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

THE SOUTIIEEN MOLUCCAS. 231mere geograpliical fragments of the latter. Amboyna with the Uliasser group(Oma or Haniku, Saparua, and Nusa Laut) all rest on the same submarine plateauas Ceram. Amboyna is formed as it were by two peninsulas, Hitu and Ley-timor,connected by a sandy isthmus little over a mile wide. Although regarded by"Wallace as of igneous origin, European residents deny the existence of any Tolcanoin Amboyna.Ceram, or Serang, largest and loftiest of the Southern Moluccas, is covered bya dense forest on its western slope known as Howamul, or "Little Ceram." Theisland culminates in Mount Musaheli (9,710 feet) ;to be granite.its preyailing formation appearsIts shores are encircled by fringing reefs, and the islands continuingthe mainland south-eastwards are mainly formed of coralline Hmestones.Goram, one of the largest of these groups, consists of a rocky central nucleus,rormd which the polyps have constructed their coral reefs. But others, such asManawoko and Matabello, arc composed exclusively of upheaved coral.The little Banda group presents a marked contrast to all the surroundinglands in its complete isolation, and the incessant activity of its Gunong Api, or"Bui-ning Mountain."Of the six islets of the cluster, three. Great Banda '(Lonthoir),Banda Neira, and the Yolcano, are so disposed as to form the margin of aninner lake, probably representing an old crater of vast extent.Both Bandas areclothed with verdure to their summits, while the superb' cone of Api presents onits lower flanks a mere fringe of vegetation, and higher up nothing but heaps ofrocks whitened with saline efflorescences. The craters emit constant wreaths ofvapour, and all the Banda Islands are subject to frequent earthquakes. In thisneighbourhood is best seen the curious phenomenon of the " Milky Sea," the waterduring the months from June to September appearing white at night and illumiaedby a strange phosphorescent glow.Lying between Indonesia and New Guinea the Southern Moluccas participateof both regions in their climate and animal and vegetable forms.But land mammalsare almost completely absent, while on the other hand each island presentssome original tj'pes. Noteworthy are the Marsupials (Ciiscus), allied to those ofNew Guinea ; the babirussa, which has reached Burn from Celebes, and especiallythe huge pythons which attack and devour man. The Moluccas are amazinglyrich in birds, mostly resembling those of Papuasia. In Ceram alone Wallaceenumerated fifty-five indigenous species, including a remarkable helmeted cassowaryfive or six feet high, the wings being replaced by groups of " horny blackspines like blunt porcupine quills."The surrounding waters also teem with everyvariety of marine life, and in the ports and creeks of AmbojTia alone Bleeker foundno less than seven hundred and eighty species of fishes, nearly as many as occur inall the European seas and rivers. Amboyna also presents larger and more beautifulbutterflies than ^ny other spot on the globe. Yet by a strange and inexplicablecontrast the eastern part of Ceram, with all its wealth of vegetation, is extremelypoor in animal forms.The "Alfurus," or uncivilised natives of the Southern Moluccas, are allied, notto the Indonesians of Celebes, Borneo, and Sumatra, but to the Papuans of New