THE TIMOR GROUP .'3;') 3 



the ground till he has passed. Here, as in Bali, the 

 women are the chief traders ; and the market of 

 Ampanam, held under a magnificent avenue of iig trees, 

 is an interesting sight, where all the chief products of 

 the country and the many races that inhabit or frequent 

 it are to be found collected together. A few miles 

 inland the Eaja has a park and pleasure-house called 

 Gunong Sari, where there are handsome brick gateways 

 with Hindu deities in stone, resembling those of the 

 ruined cities of Java ; fish-ponds stocked with fish, which 

 come to be fed on the striking of a gong ; and deer which 

 will come out of the woods to take bread from tlic 

 visitor's hand. There are also fantastic pavilions, gro- 

 tesque statues, and groves of fruit trees, — altogether a 

 very pretty place, though now much neglected, but still 

 serving to show that these Eajas of Bali had once some 

 love and admiration both for nature and art. 



The population is estimated at about 540,000, which 

 is at the very high proportion of about 2 5 8 to the square 

 mile. Of these about 30,000 only are Balinese, and 

 about one-fifth of that number Bugis and Malays. The 

 Sumbawa eruption of 1815 was the cause of the death 

 of many thousands, the island being buried in ashes to 

 the depth of 18 inches, and of late smallpox and chdlcra 

 have also been very fatal. 



4. Sumbawa. 



Crossing the Alias Strait from Lombok, only 1 miles 

 in width, we come to the much larger island of Sumbawa, 

 which is 170 miles long, and exceedingly irregular in 

 shape, being almost cut in two by the deep and wide 

 Sale Gulf. Its area is estimated at about 5300 square 

 miles, or a little greater than that of Jamaica, and it is 



2 A 



