210 



AUSTBALASIA. 



east bend round to the north-east in such a way as to continue the axis of Timor 

 as far as Nila. It seems, therefore, probable that in the general modelling of the 

 terrestrial crust, Timor and these islands have been subjected to a common process 

 of folding in some remote geological epoch. 



Like Sumatra and Madagascar, Timor presents towards the Indian Ocean a far 

 more regular coast-line than towards the inland northern waters. Notwith- 

 standing its geographical importance at the south-east corner of Indonesia over 

 against Australia, it has been so little studied that the popidation can only be 

 approximately estimated. Politically it is divided in nearly equal proportions 

 between Portugal and Holland ; but the Portuguese half, which depends adminis- 

 tratively on Macao, and which comprises fifty-four " kingdoms," some still corn- 

 Fig. 87. — Timor and Neighboijeing Islands. 

 Scale 1 : 5,500,000. 



to 500 

 Fathoms. 



Iiepths. 



500 to 1,000 

 Fathoms. 



1,000 Fathoms 

 and upwards 



. 120 Miles. 



pletely independent, is said to have a population of half a million, while the Dutch 

 section appears to contain scarcely half that number. 



The Malay term Timor, that is, the " East," shows that this island long formed 

 the eastern limit of navigation in Indonesia. According to tradition the natives 

 were savages, ignorant of agriculture, and living only on the chase and fishing, 

 when the first Malay immigrants landed on the south coast, where is now the petty 

 state of Waiwiko-Waihali. These settlers, who introduced rice and maize and 

 iron implements, are said to have come from Ternate towards the close of the 



