CHAP. XXIV.] DISTINCT RACES. 43 



discovered. Among butterflies the beautiful little Danis 

 sebee was abundant, making the forests gay with its deli- 

 cate wings of white and the richest metallic blue ; while 

 showy Papilios, and pretty Pieridse, and dark, rich Eupleeas, 

 many of them new, furnished a constant source of interest 

 and pleasing occupation. 



The island of Batchian possesses no really indigenous 

 inhabitants, the interior being altogether uninhabited,, and 

 there are only a few small villages on various parts of the 

 coast; yet I found here four distinct races, which would 

 wofuUy mislead an ethnological traveller unable to obtain 

 information as to their origin. First there are the Batchian 

 Malays, probably the earliest colonists, differing very little 

 from those of Ternate. Their language, however, seems to 

 have more of the Papuan element, with a mixture of pure 

 Malay, showing that the settlement is one of stragglers 

 of various races, although now sufficiently homogeneous. 

 Then there are the " Orang Sirani," as at Ternate and 

 Amboyna. Many of these have the Portuguese physiog- 

 nomy strikingly preserved, but combined with a skin gene- 

 rally darker than the Malays. Some national customs are 

 retained, and tlie Malay, which is their only language, 

 contains a large number of Portuguese words and idioms. 

 The third race consists of the Galela men from the north 

 of Gilolo, a singular people, whom I have already described ; 

 and the fourth is a colony from Tom5re, in the eastern 



