CHAP. xxviT.] OF THE MOLUCCAS. 141 



pigs. These are spread all over the Archipelago, even to 

 several of the smaller islands, and in many cases the species 

 are peculiar. It is evident, therefore, that they have some 

 natural means of dispersal. There is a popular idea that 

 pigs cannot swim, but Sir Charles Lyell has shown that 

 this is a mistake. In his "Principles of Geology" (10th 

 Edit. vol. ii. p. 355) he adduces evidence to show that pigs 

 have swum many miles at sea, and are able to swim with 

 great ease and swiftness. I have myself seen a vvild pig 

 swimming across the arm of the sea that separates Singa- 

 pore from the Peninsula of Malacca, and we thus have 

 explained the curious fact, that of all the large mammals 

 of the Indian region, pigs alone extend beyond the 

 Moluccas and as far as I^ew Guinea, although it is 

 somewhat curious that they have not found their way 

 to Australia. 



The little shrew, Sorex myosurus, which is common in 

 Sumatra, Borneo, and Java, is also found in the larger 

 islands of the Moluccas, to which it may have been 

 accidentally conveyed in native praus. 



This completes the list of the placental mammals which 

 are so characteristic of the Indian region ; and we see that, 

 with the single exception of the pig, all may very probably 

 have been introduced by man, since all except the pig are 

 of species identical with those now abounding in the great 

 Malay islands, or in Celebes. 



