Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

242 AUSTRALASIA.of corsairs.In 1837 the Diitcli authorities removed four hundred of these piratesto the island of Saleyer, where they received allotments of land to cultivate.The large island of Morotai, which forms the north-east extremity of theMoluccas and of the whole of Indonesia, became entirely depopulated in consequenceof the constant incursions of the corsairs. Thus the vast colonial empireof Holland, comprising over five hundred islands and too extensive for all itsnatural resources to be developed, terminates towards the Pacific Ocean in landswhich were formerly thickly inhabited, but which are at present deserted. Asshown by the statistical charts, Java, Madura, Bali, and Lombok are the onlyislands where the population is grouped in considerable masses. The easternmembers of the Sunda group are far more sparsely occupied, while the otherregions, such as Borneo, Celebes and the Moluccas, are relatively speaking almostuninhabited.In the Api^endix will be found a table of the Dutch possessions, with theiradministrative divisions, areas, and populations.