206 AUSTRALASIA. 



Komoclo group, a few other islets, and the Mangkarai district iu the west part of 

 Flores. Formerly the large island of Sumba also formed part of this state. The 

 port of Bima is one of the best in Indonesia. The inlet, which here penetrates over 

 fifteen miles inland, is no less than sixty-five fathoms deep at its entrance, and 

 opposite the capital, where it expands to a land-locked lake, it affords large vessels 

 perfect shelter in depths of from twelve to eighteen fathoms. The European 

 merchants and the Dutch officials who keep the sultan under control, reside in a 

 separate quarter known as the Kam20ong Wohinda, or " Dutch Village." In the 

 neighbourhood are some Hindu tombs, dating probably from the epoch when this 

 part of Sumbawa was tributary to the Javanese Empire of Mojo-Pahit. Here 

 also have been discovered some undecipherable inscriptions, whose origin is un- 

 known. 



Flores, Solor and Allor Archipelagoes. 



These members of the " Little Sundas " constitute so many links in the long 

 chain of volcanic islands which stretches eastwards to Timor, and then curves 

 gently round north-eastwards to Nila. Flores and its eastern neighbours are 

 entirely of igneous origin, lacking even the sedimentary limestones that are con- 

 tinued from Java through Bali and Lombok as far as Sumbawa. The southern 

 headlands of Flores are all volcanic mountains with extinct oj still active craters. 



Although abounding in natural products of all sorts, these lands have hitherto 

 been somewhat neglected by their European masters. The vast Indonesian Empire 

 is too extensive to have yet been systematically surveyed and opened up through- 

 out its whole extent. Till 1809 the Dutch and Portuguese were still contending 

 for the eastern part of Flores and the adjacent archipelagoes, and although all 

 were then assigned by treaty to Holland, their exploration has since remained 

 nearly at a standstill. Xo accurate returns have yet been made of the population, 

 w^hich is roughly estimated at about four hundred thousand for Flores and the 

 Solor and Allor groups, which have a collective area of 9,000 square miles. 



Conspicuous amongst the chain of volcanoes stretching along the north side of 

 Flores are Pokka, or Ombuu Soro (6,900 feet), and farther east, in the Endeh 

 district, a name sometimes applied to the whole island, Gunong Keo, or Roma, 

 believed to be the culminating point (9,200 feet). South of the village of Endeh 

 (Ambogaga) rises the Gunong Api, and the natives report to the north of the 

 same place the Gunong Kingo, which is said to have been the scene of several 

 eruptions during the historic period. At the south-east corner of Flores stands 

 the double-crested Lobetobi volcano, one of whose cones, the Laki-Laki, or the 

 "Man" (7,160 feet), is always smoking, while the other, Perampuan, or the 

 " Woman" (7,460 feet), is covered on the inner walls of its crater with incrustations 

 of sulphur. 



The extinct Kabalelo (7,500 feet) commands one of the passages of Larantuka 

 Strait, facing the island of Solor ; the strait itself takes its name from another volcano, 

 called also Ilimandiri (5,180 feet), at the north-east extremity of Flores. This moun- 



