CELEBES: A PROBLEM IN DISTRIBUTION 11 
rats, mice, and bats; while, as already said, their birds 
include cassowaries, cockatoos, birds of paradise, bower- 
birds, and a host of other kinds more or less completely 
unknown in the regions to the westward. 
But, unfortunately, there is another element in the 
problem which introduces a further complexity. The 
Malays are bold and clever sailors, fond of voyaging from 
island to island in these summer seas. And they are also 
wonderful adepts in taming animals of various kinds. 
Many of these they carry about with them in their 
voyages—some probably for food and others as pets. 
When they land on a strange island some of these animals 
may occasionally escape, or possibly may be turned loose 
intentionally. .Now there is a very considerable probability 
that the wild pigs of Ceram and New Guinea have been 
thus introduced ; and if this be the case, the fauna of the 
Australasian region is made more absolutely distinct from 
that of the Oriental province. The deer of the Moluccas 
and Timor present a case of greater difficulty; but as the 
Moluccas cannot well be separated from the Australasian 
region, they would seem, in these islands at least, to have 
been introduced, and, if so, the same will hold good with 
regard to certain smaller mammals of an Oriental type, 
such as civets. 
We are now in a position to consider how the animals 
of Celebes compare with those of the neighbouring islands. 
Now, the only mammals of a purely Australian type found 
in that island are two species of cuscuses—sleepy creatures, 
with beautifully soft fur, often very brilliantly coloured, 
and showing great individual or sexual variation in the 
markings. They are near relatives of the so-called 
opossums (phalangers) of Australia, and are entirely arboreal 
creatures, passing the day comfortably coiled up in slumber 
