330 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TKAVEL 



ever, poor, for little trade is carried on, and the abundance 

 of sago gives them no inducement to cultivate the soil. 

 There is hardly any part of the East where the traveller 

 finds it so difficult to procure the usual tropical fruits 

 and vegetables, or any food fit for the consumption of 

 civilised beings. The population in 1878 was supposed 

 to be about 226,000. 



10. The Amboina Group. 



The Amboina group consists of the main island, 

 Ambon — or, as it is known to the English, Amboina — and 

 three smaller islands lying to the east-^Haruku, Saparua, 

 and Nusa Laut. It was hither that the Dutch in the 

 middle of the seventeenth century brought the clove 

 cultivation, having extirpated the tree in its native islands 

 of Ternate, Tidor, and Makian ; and, although this in- 

 dustry is no longer a monopoly, and the spice exported 

 in much reduced quantities, the good roads on the smaller 

 islands, and the size of the capital, testify to a long- 

 existent civilisation, which has affected all the native 

 inhabitants. 



The main island is about 30 miles in length, and is 

 so deeply indented by two bays on opposite sides that 

 it forms practically two islands, the narrow, sandy, con- 

 necting isthmus being only 30 yards wide. Across 

 this — the " Paso " — the native praus are dragged, the 

 passage between the town and the smaller islands being 

 by this means greatly shortened. The total area of the 

 island is about 260 square miles, and the population 

 32,000, of which rather more than half live in the town. 

 The size of these Molucca towns thus falls far short of that 

 of the populous cities of Java, Sumatra, and even Borneo, 

 althouoh their trade has been renowned for centuries. 



