1891.] W. Dolierty — The Butterflies of Stimha and Samhaiva, ^"c. 145 



I hear, making fearful ravages among the herds of ponies for which 

 Lombok was once celebrated. As the dividing line between homologous 

 species, Lombok Strait is probably less important than Ombai or even 

 Sumba Straits. I should rather call it the boundary between the Indian 

 Region and the neutral zone beyond, than that between the Indian 

 and the Australian regions. 



Sumba is one of the largest of the Lesser Sunda islands, having 

 an area probably exceeding six thousand square miles, for the unex- 

 plored southern coast-line, drawn on the maps as concave, is really con- 

 vex, giving great breadth to the island.* It is called Sumba or Humba 

 (the S and H being interchangeable here and in Savu, which is general- 

 ly called Hau by the natives) by all the tribes inhabiting it, but on the 

 maps the more usual names are Ohendana (Tjendana), Sandelhout and 

 Sandalwood, names of the same significance, given not because, as has 

 been stated, sandalwood is exported, but because that tree is said to be 

 tahu (or palili as the Sumbanese say) to the inhabitants, so that if 

 any one chances to break a twig of it, he is cut into small pieces, and 

 scattered about under the sacred branches. At least, that is what the 

 Malays say, but the Sumbanese, both the mountaineers and the coast- 

 dwellers, entirely deny the existence of the tree on their island. 



Deep sea separates Sumba from Flores, the high peaks of which 

 are distinctly visible from I^angamesi Bay, but a bank covered by 

 50-80 fathoms of water, connects it with Eastern Sambawa, while on 

 the side of Savu and Roti there is apparently deep sea again. Wo part of 

 the coast has been surveyed even in the most cursory manner, but on 

 account of the development of the horse-trade, the north-east coast from 

 Laura to Rendi has become pretty well known to Arab and Bugis 

 skippers. Except Tarimbang, which has not, I believe, been visited for 

 generations, there is no harbour anywhere in the island. The roadstead 

 of Waingapu or Wayapu, the chief port, is difficult of access, lying be- 

 tween two long coral reefs laid bare at low tide. 



The aspect of the north coast of Sumba is most forbidding. Long 

 naked headlands — Sasa, Kgarulubu, Mandolu, famous for their horses — 

 extend far into the sea, marked with the lines of raised beaches. All 

 this side of the island, for as much as forty miles inland and up to a 

 height of two thousand feet, is covered with a sheet of coral overlying 

 sandstone. t The coral must be of considerable age, and is often 

 extraordinarily hard, reminding one of the ancient metamoi'phic lime- 



* The southern coast of Sambawa is set down quite wrongly on the maps, as I 

 Gould see from the top of Haruhasa. 



t Near Kawangu the sandstone is uncovered, forming hills curiously carved and 

 water-worn. 



