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ON THE BIllDS COLLECTED ON THE TUKANG-BESI 

 ISLANDS AND BUTON, SOUTH-EAST OE CELEBES, BY 

 MR. HEINRICH KUHN. 



By ERNST HARTERT. 



BKINO particularly interesterl in the ornithology of the Celebes group, wlience 

 we had received such tine collections from Everett and Doherty, Mr. Walter 

 Kothschild and I have for a long time been trying to induce collectors to go to the 

 entirely unexplored Tukang-Besi Islands and Buton, south-east of Celebes, but in 

 vain. Dohertv had no inclination to go there, and Everett was unable to obtain the 

 required i)erniission from the Dutch authorities. The Tukang-Besi Islands belong 

 to the Sultan of the island of Huton, which is a free tributary state of 

 Holland. The Dutch have no power nor even any influence on Buton and the 

 Tukang-Besi, Toekan-Besi, or Token-Besi Islands, which can only lie visited by white 

 men with the consent of the Dutch authorities at .Makassar, after the Sultan of Buton 

 has given formal permission. Mr. Kiihn succeeded in obtaining these permissions, 

 started for the islands in the autumn of 1901, and collected there in November 

 and December 1901 and Jnnuary 1902, though the permissions were apparently 

 given somewhat reluctantly, for a limited time only, and not without restrictions 

 aud conditions. Mr. Kiihn had to take four men of high rank from Buton, who 

 travelled with him on his prau at his expense. They were a source of trouble to 

 him, being constantly about him and doing their best, evidently by order of the 

 Sultan, to keep the native population away from him. On the boat they filled the 

 air with the unpleasant odour of their oiiium pipes, which they smoked most of 

 the time. In addition to the four officials from Buton, a prau with thirteen men 

 followed him everywhere. These people were, of course, a great bother, and were 

 very troublesome when he was collecting, on account of their constant inquisitiveness 

 and obtrusiveness. From Wantjee (Wangi, Wangi-Wangi) Mr. Kiihn was at first 

 turned back to Buton, and the return journey to Wantjee was one of nine days' 

 beating against the wind. 



The Tukang-Besi (Toekan-Besi, Token-Besi, or Toecambaro) Islands form an 

 e.ttensive but almost unknown archipelago to the eastward of Buton. They are of 

 moderate ele\atiou, with numerous rocks and reefs around and among them. ]Mr. 

 Kiihn visited Wantjee, Kalidupa, Tomia, and Binongka. 



Wantjee (Wangi-Wangi, Wangi, Wantyi) is the largest and nearest to Buton. 

 Though only eighteen miles eastward of the east jioint of Buton, a depth of 

 1070 fathoms has been found in the channel between them. The island is high, 

 being visible for about twenty to twenty-five miles. The natives here and on the 

 other islands always walk about with one or two kris in the belt, and on Wantjee they 

 were in.snlent and in no way afraid of the Butonese oflKcials. Binongka, or Binungku, 

 is a geologically young, thickly populated island, which does not produce enough to feed 

 its population, so that every year hundreds of men are obliged to emigi-ate toAmboina, 

 Banda, and Celebes to trade or to work. There is no forest, or hardly anything that 

 deserves the name ; where\er the rugged and sharp coral limestone admits it, the 



