Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/279

Rh and cacao plantations. The population is about 226,000. Buru, near it, is 90 miles long, with a population of 60,000, and the highest peak is Mount Tumahu, 8530 feet, whilst others rise to 7000 feet. A Dutch Resident rules it. North of it is Mysol, or Misol, about 50 miles away. It is mountainous, about 50 miles long by 20 miles wide, and has kangaroo, birds of paradise, and is akin to the Papuan system. It is ruled by a native raja, tributary to the Sultan of Tidore, but is little known or visited.

On the Obi Group, the chief of which is Obi Major, 45 miles long by 20 miles wide, with mountains 5000 feet high, covered with virgin forests, it is said there are no inhabitants at all. There are ruins of an old Dutch fort. According to the natives, Obi Major, or perha the whole group, is haunted—mysterious, beautiful isles they are.

North of all these are the Moluccas proper, the famous Spice Islands which one time caused Spanish, Dutch, and British ships to crowd these seas. The name Moluccas is now applied to all the islands between Celebes and New Guinea, but of the real Moluccas, Gilolo, Ternate, and Tidore are the principal ones. The Resident of Amboyna administers Ceram, Buru, Banda, Ké, Aru, Timor Laut, and others; but these ones are ruled by the sultans of Ternate and Tidore. The Portuguese rule was cruel and brutal. The Spanish came from Manila but did not do much, and in 1613 the Dutch, by a treaty with the sultans, obtained power, and by 1681 had crushed out all opposition. They allow the sultans, who are subsidised, to rule their own subjects, and the jurisdiction of the Sultan of Tidore extends to New Guinea.

Gilolo is as little known as Ceram, but has 125,000 inhabitants. It is very mountainous