Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/426

 38£ HISTORY OF CELEBES* have exercised a permanent authority over the smaller tribes. A brief sketch of their history will comprise all that is interesting or valuable in the history of Celebes. It is hardly necessary to say,, that there is no record, nor evidence drawn from the state of society, that can entitle us to infer, that the whole island was ever united as one great mo- narchy. Pl'evious to their adopting the Mahomedan re- ligion, the inhabitants of Celebes professed the same Hinduism with the more western tribes of the Archipelago, and just as we find to be the ease in the legends of the Javanese, Batara Guru, a local name of Siwa, is described as the first of their kings. The civilization of the Hindus seems^ however, to have made very smallprogress in Celebes. The soil is not peculiarly inviting by its fertility^ — the manners of the people are ferocious, — ^the distance is great, — and the country produces none of those costly luxuries^ which alone in a rude state of commerce afford a profitable trade. These^ it is probable, were the circumstances which re- stricted the intercourse between Celebes and West- ern India. It was not until the very reign in which the Portuguese arrived, that the Macassar nation began, by their own account, to keep any record of their principal transactions ^ and it is by no means improbable that this was suggested to them by their European visitors, who seem always tf