282 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



theory. The river draining it debouches at Menado, 

 making a descent of many hundreds of feet in its short 

 course, and forming a waterfall of great beauty, the 

 npper plunge of which is about 100 feet in height. 



4. Climate. 



The central position of Celebes, its shape, and its 

 physical characteristics have combined to render it the 

 healthiest of all the large islands of Malaysia. The 

 violence of the W. monsoon and the abundance of its 

 rains are mitigated by Sumatra and Borneo, while in like 

 manner the parching easterly winds which from April 

 to October blow over the Sunda chain as far as the 

 middle of Java, drying up the streams and causing the 

 trees to shed their leaves, are less felt, and materially 

 affect only the southern and south-eastern peninsulas. 

 The shape of the island is such as to admit health-giving 

 sea-breezes almost to its entire area, while the absence of 

 the low -lying and frequently - inundated plains which 

 form so large a portion of Sumatra and Borneo renders 

 malaria far less common than in those countries. Not 

 that paludal fevers and dysentery are unknown : the 

 great infant mortality afflicting the Minahasa population 

 is no doubt indirectly due to the former of these two 

 maladies. But, on the whole, tropical disorders are far 

 less frequent and severe here than in most other parts of 

 the archipelago. 



Owing to the influence of the S.E. monsoon, the 

 climate of the Makassar district differs from that of 

 Minahasa, being divided into a distinct wet and dry 

 season, while the latter region, lying close to the equator, 

 has a more equably distributed rainfall, and though 

 occasionally subject to droyght, is perennially verdant. 



