368 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



in the interior, but along the coast, especially in the 

 north, the villages are numerous. Mr. Forbes regards 

 the natives as a mixed race of Papuan, Polynesian, and 

 Malay blood. They use the fork-like hair-combs of the 

 Papuans, and are very clever carvers of wood and ivory, 

 the latter substance being brought as tusks from Singa- 

 pore and Sumatra by Buginese traders. Drunkenness is 

 rather common, the spirit used being distilled from the 

 sap of the coco-palm. Tobacco is only grown for chew- 

 ing. The constant tribal or village wars which appear 

 everywhere to exist oblige the people to live in stockaded 

 towns, set about with sharp-pointed bamboo stakes, and 

 agriculture suffers in consequence, and not the less from 

 a dearth of water. Maize is the staple, but sweet potato, 

 manioc, and sugar are also grown. Neither rice nor sago 

 appears to be cultivated, but the natives are industrious 

 fishermen. 



Mr. Forbes found characteristic Australian trees con- 

 spicuous by their absence. Eucalyptus, casuarinas, and 

 phyllode-bearing acacias were not seen, but urostigmas, 

 sterculias, and myrtles formed a conspicuous feature of the 

 ilora. The avifauna is markedly Papuan, with a slight 

 Timor element, and this Timorese affinity is also shown 

 by the Lepidoptera. There are no deer, and the tree 

 kangaroo {Dendrolagus), a striking Papuan form, has not 

 been found, though existent, as we have seen, in the K^ 

 Islands. On Yamdena large herds of buffalo have run 

 wild. 



9. Sumba, Savu, and Timor. 



Sumba, the little island of Savu, and the group of 

 which Timor forms the main island, are in no way con- 

 nected with the great Sunda chain just described. They 

 form a group apart, but whether connected with each 



