190 A NATUBALIST IN CELEBES ch. viii 



frequent as might be supposed. During the heavy rains of 

 1882 the Manado river brought down vast numbers of 

 mighty forest trees, and many of these must have drifted 

 far out to sea with a very considerable crew of squirrels, 

 mice, caterpillars, and other animals. Around the active 

 volcanoes whole forests of trees are occasionally floated off 

 into the sea. Dr. Guillemard told me that at the Batu 

 Angus opposite to the island of Limbe he has seen trees 

 standing in the lava which had flowed from the volcano, and 

 that these trees were so burnt round their bases that they 

 could be toppled over by a push. It is quite certain that 

 during the eruption of the island volcanoes, numbers of 

 trees are in this manner carried down the hillsides by the 

 lava and floated off into the sea. It might be urged that 

 the animals which are accustomed to live in. the trees would 

 under the circumstances of a violent volcanic explosion all 

 be killed by the heat or by sulphurous fumes. It is possible 

 that this is so in very many cases, but not always. Some 

 days after the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883 a female green 

 monkey was found floating on some drifting timber in the 

 Sunda Straits. She was terribly scorched, but completely 

 recovered, and is, I believe, still alive. 



We cannot fairly deduce any argument either for or 

 against any former land communication between Celebes 

 and the Philippines from the evidence afforded by the distri- 

 bution of birds. The straits between the several islands 

 are so narrow that they afford no insuperable geographical 

 barrier to the passage of even the smaller birds, and many 

 of the peculiarities of the avi-fauna of the Sangir islands 

 must probably be attributed partly to the absence of certain 

 mammals, such as the apes and the paradoxurus, and 

 partly to the peculiarities of the vegetation. 



There are, according to Blasius (5), twelve birds peculiar 

 to Sangir and one to Siauw. Some of these, such as the 



