CELEBES. 229 



importance. Menado (Manado), the Wcnang of the natives, lies on a spacious 

 inlet open to the west and sheltered on the north by several islets, one of which, 

 Menado Ttiwa, or " Old Menado," marks the site of the old town, which was 

 abandoned in 1682 for the present more secure position on the mainland. Here 

 a pleasant little Dutch quarter gradually sprang up round about the foot of 

 JVieuiv- Amsterdam. But the town itself is little more than a vast garden dotted 

 over with rural dwellings and crossed by shady avenues, each terminating with a 

 lovely view of sea, islands, and extinct or still smouldering volcanoes. 



The district is enriched by cultivated grounds, which have replaced the primi- 

 tive forests, and which are traversed by good roads giving access to the magnifi- 

 cent plateau of Tondano, with its coffee plantations, its woodlands, romantic 

 winding lake, and waterfall of the river Menado. A little to the west of Tondano 

 stands the village of Rurukan, 3,300 feet above the sea, being the highest group 

 of habitations in Minahassa, if not in the whole of Celebes. 



The political and administrative in no way correspond with the natural 

 divisions of Celebes. Thus Sumbawa, one of the lesser Sunda Islands, forms part 

 of the Macassar " government," while the petty states on the Gulf of Tolo belong 

 to the Sultanate of Ternate, and consequently depend politically on a remote 

 eastern islet. The greater part of Celebes is still divided amongst local rulers, 

 some classed as direct or indirect feudatories, others as allies, and others again as 

 still completely independent. Thus the districts under direct Dutch administration 

 occupy but a relatively small part of the territory ; and even here the old adminis- 

 trative measures have been partly maintained, the authority being exercised by 

 native regents under the control of Dutch Residents or Assistants. The system 

 of government varies also in the numerous native " kingdoms," most of which are 

 electoral monarchies limited by custom, the authority of the notables, and priestly 

 influence. Wajo, on the east coast of Macassar, is an oligarchy of powerful families, 

 with a prince elected as nominal chief, and a council of forty delegates, including 

 some women. The various Bugi states constitute similar oligarchies, where the 

 nominal sovereign merely executes the pleasure of his vassals. 



The Southern Moluccas : Buru, Ceram, Amboyna, Banda. 



A submarine bed less than 100 fathoms deep connects Celebes and the Xula 

 (Sula) Archipelago with Buru, westernmost member of the Moluccas. On the 

 other hand this oval island forms a link in a chain disposed in the form of an 

 arc comprising Ceram, Goram, sundry islets, and in the Kei group intersecting 

 another chain of upheaved lands, the already described South-Eastern Islands. 

 The chain of the Southern Moluccas, sweeping round some 450 miles first west and 

 east, then south-east parallel with New Guinea, is well defined by deep waters 

 both north and south. Thus Ceram is separated from the Northern Moluccas by 

 an abyss of over 1,500 fathoms, while on the opposite side the Banda Sea has a 

 depth of 3,000, and at one point near the Banda volcano 4,280 fathoms. Precisely 

 in the centre of this sea rises the submarine plateau of Lucipara, marked by a few 



