CHAPTER X 



THE TIMOR GROUP, OR LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS 



1. Greneral. 



From the east end of Java a chain of important islands 

 stretches in a straight line for ahout 800 miles, till it 

 seems to be turned aside by encountering the large island 

 of Timor, and is then continued by a series of gradually 

 diminishing islands for about 400 miles farther. From 

 the eastern extremity of Timor another series extends to 

 Timor Laut. Between the western end of Timor and 

 Sumbawa the islands of Eotti, Savu, and Sumba, or 

 Sandalwood, form a kind of loop-line to the principal 

 chain. A volcanic belt, with many active volcanoes, 

 runs in a direct line from Java to the east end of 

 Timor, and thence through Timor Laut to the K4 group. 

 Sumba Island and the western half of Timor appear to 

 be non-volcanic. 



The whole group of islands we are now considering 

 have a very different aspect from m-ost other parts of the 

 Malay Archipelago, and especially from the Moluccas, 

 being deficient in verdure, for the most part without 

 forests, and often absolutely barren. This deficiency of 

 forest-covering begins even in Bali, so close to luxuriant 

 Java, and increases as we go eastward, till, in the great 



