CHAPTER XXVII. THE NATURAL
HISTORY OF THE MOLUCCAS.
THE Moluccas consist of three large islands, Gilolo, Ceram, and Bouru, the
two former being each about two hundred miles long; and a great number of
smaller isles and islets, the most important of which are Batchian, Morty, Obi,
Ke, Timor-Laut, and Amboyna; and among the smaller ones, Ternate, Tidore,
Kaióa, and Banda. They occupy a space of ten degrees of latitude by eight of
longitude, and they are connected by groups of small islets to New Guinea on
the east, the Philippines on the north, Celebes on the west, and Timor on the
south. It will be as well to bear in mind these main features of extent and
geographical position, while we survey their animal productions and discuss
their relations to the countries which surround them on every side in almost
equal proximity.
We will first consider the Mammalia or warm-blooded quadrupeds, which
present us with some singular anomalies. The land mammals are exceedingly
few in number, only ten being yet known from the entire group. The bats or
aerial mammals, on the other hand, are numerous—not less than twenty-five
species being already known. But even this exceeding poverty of terrestrial
mammals does not at all represent the real poverty of the Moluccas in this class
of animals; for, as we shall soon see, there is good reason to believe that several
of the species have been introduced by man, either purposely or by accident.
The only quadrumanous animal in the group is the curious baboon-monkey,
Cynopithecus nigrescens, already described as being one of the characteristic
animals of Celebes. This is found only in the island of Batchian; and it seems so
much out of place there as it is difficult to imagine how it could have reached the
island by any natural means of dispersal, and yet not have passed by the same
means over the narrow strait to Gilolo—that it seems more likely to have
originated from some individuals which had escaped from confinement, these
and similar animals being often kept as pets by the Malays, and carried about in
their praus.
Of all the carnivorous animals of the Archipelago the only one found in the
Moluccas is the Viverra tangalunga, which inhabits both Batchian and Bouru,
and probably come of the other islands. I am inclined to think that this also may