THE MOLUCCAS 325 



Still farther south, but m the same north and south 

 line, lie the two distinct and compact groups of JJatjan 

 and Obi. In ancient times the former constituted an 

 independent Sultanate, surrounded in every direction by 

 the vast domains of tlie Sultans of Ternate and Tidor. 

 The island has other reasons to be considered distinct, as, 

 although volcanic in its northern portion, it is in the 

 main composed of ancient rocks, as is also the Obi group. 

 In length it exceeds 50 English miles, and the great 

 mountain mass of Labua, at the southern end, is 7150 

 feet in height, and is believed to be non-volcanic. The 

 interior is uninhabited, or nearly so, and the small littoral 

 population, two or three thousand only in number, is 

 composed of Ternate Malays, Galela men, and immi- 

 grants from the west coast of Celebes. The clove is said 

 to grow wild. The black Celebesian monkey, Cynopi- 

 thecus nigrcscens, is found — the most eastern point of the 

 distribution of the Quadrumana — but, as before stated, it 

 is considered by Mr. "Wallace to have been most probal^ly 

 imported by man. Here, too, is the beautiful and curious 

 bird -of- paradise, Wallace's Standard -wing {Semioptera 

 wallacei), the only representative of the Paradiseidaj found 

 in the Moluccas. The Dutch have a Controleur and a small 

 garrison stationed at the village of Batjan, on the west 

 coast, and the present fort — Fort Barneveld — was built 

 as long ago as 1615 upon the site of one erected many 

 years before by the Portuguese. Near Batjan are some 

 coal-mines which have been worked intermittently, 

 though to no great profit, for nearly half a century ; and 

 gold and copper are also found in small quantities. A 

 Dutch company has established plantations of coffee and 

 cacao, which have been only partly successful. Mr. 

 Wallace considers that the island is one which would 

 perhaps repay the researches of a botanist better than 



