216 AUSTEALASIA. 



extremity of another igneous range indicated at intervals by a few islets rising 

 above the surface. 



But however they may differ in their sedimentary, volcanic, or coralline 

 orio-in, the Serwatty groups resemble each other in their political and commercial 

 history. The most striking in form and relief are naturally the igneous islands, 

 conspicuous amongst which is the superb but now smokeless cone of Gunong Api. 

 Wetter (Wetta), facing the north coast of Timor, is traversed by a line of craters, 

 amid which the timid natives have taken refuge. Kisser (Kissa), lying farther 

 east and nearest to Timor, is also mountainous, and in the last century was chosen 

 as the administrative centre of the whole group ; but it suffers from a deficient 

 rainfall, and its inhabitants have often been driven by famine to emigrate to the 

 surrounding lands. Eoma, which follows to the north-east, is on the contrary 

 productive enough to export some of its superabundant produce. The chain is 

 continued north-eastwards through Damma, with its smoking crater and thermal 

 springs, to Nila, with a still active cone, and Sarua, the last eastern links in the 

 Sundanese igneous system. 



The southern chain, stretching between Timor and Timor Laut, begins with 

 Letti, most densely peopled of all the Serwatty Islands ; it is followed eastward by 

 Moa, also very populous and noted for its peak, the "Buffalo," which looks like a 

 reduced copy of Teneriffe. The neighbouring Lakor is a mere coral bank rising 

 little more than twenty feet above the surface. Luang is also fringed with reefs, 

 where are taken the most highly prized sea-cucumbers in the whole archipelago. 

 Sermatta, forming a long chain of steep hills with no accessible creek, is Kttle 

 visited by skippers, whereas Babber (Baba), with its numerous islets, including the 

 lovely little Wetang, is much frequented by native craft. 



During the last century, when the Company kept a factory and a fort in almost 

 every island, the natives of Serwatty had mostly become Christians, adopting a 

 dark costume and European names as an outward sign of their conversion. In 1825 

 and 1826 the chaplain accompanying Kolff's expedition had scarcely landed in a 

 village, when he was surrounded by these " Christians," entreating him to solem- 

 nise their marriages and baptize their children. Some could still read and write, 

 and, as they were nearly everywhere looked on as a superior race, they had suc- 

 ceeded in imposing a kind of slavery on those natives who had remained pagans. 

 Their authority is now all the greater that they claim the title of Anak Compani, 

 or " Children of the Company," on the ground of descent from European fathers 

 and native women. But of late years Islam has made considerable progress in the 

 Archipelago. The natives of several islands, especially Wetter and Kisser, are 

 designated by the name of Alf uru ; a term, however, which has no ethnical value, and 

 which is indifferently applied in many places to the indigenous inhabitants, what- 

 ever their origin, that have hitherto resisted Mohammedan and Christian influences. 



The South-Easïern Groups : Tenimber and Kei. 



These groups were named the " South-Eastern Islands " by the Dutch in refe- 

 rence to Amboyna, their chief political and trading station in those distant waters. 



