Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

238 AUSTRALASIA.ten, if not their origin, at least their language and even their Catholic faith ; theynow speak Malay mixed with a few Portuguese words, and call themselves Protestants.Through crossings with the natives they have become as dark as thePapuans, and greatly resemble the Brazilian half-castes of the Amazons. TheOrang Serani are almost the only natives of Indonesia who eat the " flying-fox,"that huge bat which is at times seen suspended by hundreds from the branches ofdead trees.The Alfurus, or aborigines, are now found chiefly in the central parts of thenorthern peninsula in Ilalmahera. Although many are as fair as the Malays,Pig. 102.Teexate, Tidok, and Dadinoa Isthitos.Scale 1 : 600,000.E^sb oFG eenwchDepths.'Wallace and others regard them as but slightly modified Papuans, with thecoarse features, nearly aquiline nose, frizzly hair, and vivacity of the New Guineanatives. In other respects, and especially in their usages and social institutions,they resemble the Alfurus of Coram and Burn.The little island of Kayoa, north of Batjan, is occupied by a few hundrednatives tributary to the Sultan of Ternate. The more fertile Makjan is also farmore densely peopled ;in former times its importance made it a bone of contentionbetween the rival sovereigns of Tidor and Ternate. Afterwards it passed successivelyfrom the Spaniards to the Diitch, who ruined it by compelling the ruler ofTernate to destroy its clove plantations.