THE islands of the Baiida Sea, with the exception of Letti, 

 Kisser, and Wetter, constitute the Ceram sub-group or 

 the Moluccan group ; the principal units are Buru, Amboyna, 

 Great Banda, Ceram, Ceram Laut, Goram, Kur, Babar, and 

 Dama. The Matabela Islands, the Tiandu Islands, the K6 

 Islands, and the Tenimber Islands also belong to the Ceram sub- 

 group. We are only concerned with the Banda Islands, which 

 are eight in number, and consist of four central islands in close 

 proximity to one another, inclosing a little inland sea, and four 

 outlying islets. The central islands are Lonthoir, or Great Banda, 

 Banda Neira, Gounong Api, which is an active volcano, and 

 Pisang. The remaining Banda Islands are Rozengain, which 

 lies about ten miles distant to the south-east of Great Banda ; 

 Wai, at an equal distance to the west ; Rhun, about eight miles 

 west by south from Wai ; and Suangi or Manukan, about 

 seventeen miles north by east from Rhun. 



The Banda Islands are well known as the principal centre ot 

 the cultivation of the nutmeg. When the Dutch East India 

 Company became the possessors of the islands in the beginning 

 of the seventeenth century, they destroyed the nutmeg trees in 

 all the islands under their jurisdiction, with the exception of 

 those in Amboyna and the Banda Islands. By doing so they 

 hoped to maintain the high value of these natural products. 



The Banda Islands may have been ' visited by Varthema, 



