( 579 ) 



" Among domestic animals there are pigs, goats, fowls, a few buffaloes, cats, dogs, 

 and pigeons. Horses are the most valuable product of the island, and ' Sandalwood 

 ponies ' are perhaps the best in the world, and well known as far as Rangoon and 

 Hong Kong. They live unguarded in troops of twenty or thirty, each having its 

 own range of pasture, the limits of which are carefully respected. Being very 

 curious, they used to follow me for miles over all obstacles, but never dared to cross 

 the ravine, which bounded their beat. . . . The mares are rarely ridden, and as in 

 Sambawa are kept for breeding and for food. Only stallions are exported. The 

 trade is wholly in the hands of the Arabs and Bugis. The Sumbanese are the best 

 rough- country riders I have ever seen (and I have lived among the Turkman, 

 Bedawin, and Iliats), galloping bareback down the steepest slopes. . . . 



" The staple food in Sumba is millet and maize, generally planted alternately, 

 and rice, which is hard to obtain except on the coast. . . . 



" The people of Sumba do not probably number less than 100,000, and perhaps 



much more if Laura and Melolo are really as populous.as they are said to be. . . ." 



jp 



From Doherty's letters I extract the following notes : 



11 We did all we could in Sumba at this season (end of February and March), 

 very badly in lepidoptera, but not so bad, I think, in birds. I think I never saw 

 insects quite so scarce as when I left Sumba, and that in perfect butterfly-weather, 

 heavy storms alternating with terrific heat heat which my men found very trying, 

 and which nearly killed me, fresh as I am from home. The terrific coral was 

 another great trial ; it tore our boots to pieces at once, and cost my men great 

 sufferings in their long tramps. They disliked the place immensely, and that was 

 one reason for not staying there longer. The flooded streams prevented my getting 

 either to Tabundung or Pada Dalung, which would have probably been pleasanter 

 places, but perhaps also no better collecting-grounds, as I could see it raining there 

 nearly all the time. 



" We worked the neighbourhood of Nangawesi Bay at first, and then the deep 

 valleys of Watupanu and Palukasewi in the Taimanu state. The forest in the 

 ravines is heavy, but the country very rough. There is now a regular Dutch official 

 at Waingapu, Mijnheer de Korte, who has some influence with the nearer native 

 chiefs. The country at Waingapu seems to become less disturbed and more civilised. 

 They have even started the wet cultivation of rice at one place. Otherwise my old 

 account of the island still applies, and I was wrong only in a few things. I now 

 doubt the islanders having any Mongolian blood. The supposed bank between 

 Sambawa and Sumba seems to be the mistake of an old chart (giving 50 and 60, in 

 place of 50 and 60, meaning no bottom at 50 and 60 fathoms !). It now seems to 

 me that there is a remarkable Celebensian element in the fauna of Sambawa and 

 Sumba. 



" We got every^bird we could hear of on the island. One of the most remarkable 

 of the birds is a single male of a superb new Ptilopus, of the Leucotreron group.* 



" In parrots we did well, with de Korte's assistance at least I cannot hear of 

 any other species on the island. The natives know of the Loriculus in Flores, but 

 strongly deny its existence in Sumba. The natives say there are two kinds of 

 cockatoos in the island, but I saw the supposed two kinds, and they seemed exactly 

 the same, only some being smaller, some larger. I procured only specimens of the 



* P. dohertyi Rothscli. E. H. 



