358 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



and a race of people of whom almost nothing is known, 

 and who may possibly represent the original inhabitants 

 of the island. Of the first-named the affinities do not 

 appear to be satisfactorily made out : they are of sub- 

 Malayan stock, with linguistic peculiarities pointing 

 rather to a connection with Celebes than with Bali or 

 Lombok. The Buginese and Makassar people immi- 

 grated in large numbers a few years after the great 

 Tambora eruption, which is said to have caused the death 

 of some 70,000 of the islanders. They are chiefly con- 

 fined to the western portion of the island. Five distinct 

 languages are spoken, and most of the people are Moham- 

 medans, except the wild tribes above-mentioned, who are 

 pagans. There are two Sultanates — Sumbawa and Bima. 

 The Sultan of Bima's dominions extended not only over 

 the eastern half of the island, but over Banta, Komodo, 

 and the western part of Flores, and formerly over Sumba 

 also. The Dutch rule is, however, acknowledged, and a 

 Controleur and small garrison are established at Bima, 

 the island, together with the western part of Flores, being 

 under the administration of the Eesident at Makassar. 

 There is, however, no direct jurisdiction, such authority 

 as is exerted being carried out through the medium of 

 the native rulers. 



Agriculture is nruch less advanced in Sumbawa than 

 in Bali and Lombok. There are no natural reservoirs of 

 water, and the streams are often precipitous, and run 

 dry in the summer, so that irrigation would be difficult 

 even to expert agriculturists. Some of the valleys are 

 very fertile, and the frightful eruption of 1815, which 

 for some little time after rendered the land unfit for 

 cultivation, had as its eventual result a very greatly in- 

 creased fertility when the volcanic ejecta had become 

 thoroughly disintegrated. Eice is very largely grown, 



