CHAPTER XIII. 



TIMOR. 

 (COtTANG, 1857—1859. DELLI, 1861.) 



rPHE island of Timor is about three hundred miles long 

 and sixty wide, and seems to form the termination 

 of the great range of volcanic islands which begins with 

 Sumatra more than two thousand miles to the west. It 

 differs however very remarkably from all the other islands 

 of the chain in not possessing any active volcanoes, with 

 the one exception of Timor Peak near the centre of the 

 island, which was formerly active, but was blown up 

 during an eruption in 1638 and lias since been quiescent. 

 1 n no other part of Timor do there appear to be any recent 

 igneous rocks, so that it can hardly be classed as a volcanic- 

 island. Indeed its position is just outside of the great 

 volcanic belt, which extends from Flores through Ombay 

 and Wetter to Banda. 



I first visited Timor in 1857, staying a day at Coupang, 

 the chief Dutch town at the west end of the island ; and 

 again in May 1859, when I stayed a fortnight in the same 



