392 



NATURAL RISTORY [ct^- ^^tni. 



curious baboon-monkej, Cyuopithecus nigrescens, already 

 described as being one of the characteristic animals of 

 Celebes, Tliis is found only in the island of Batchian ; 

 and it seems so uiucli out of place tliere— as it is diflicult 

 to imagine how it could have reached the island Ijy any 

 natural means of dispersal, antl yet not have passed by 

 tlie same means over the narrow strtiit to Gilolo— that 

 it seems more likely to have originated from some indi- 

 viduals which had escaped from coufinen^ent, these and 

 similar animals being often kept as pets by the Malays, 

 and carried about in their praus. 



Of all the carnivnroiLS animals of the Archipelago the 

 only one found in the Moluccas is the Yiverra taugalunga, 

 which inhabits both Batchian and Bourn, and probably 

 some of the other islands, I am inclined to think that 

 this also may have been introduced accidentally^ for it is 

 often made captive by the Malays, who procure civet 

 from it, and it is an animal very restless and untameable, 

 and therefore likely to escape. This view is rendered still 

 more probable by what Antonio de Moi*ga tells us was 

 the custom in the Philippines in 1802. He says that " the 

 natives of Mindanao carry about civet-cats in cages, and 

 sell them in the islands; and they take the civet from 

 them, and let them go again." The same species is 

 common in the Philippines and in all the laige islands 

 of the Indo-Malay region. 



The only Jroluccau ruminant is a deer, which was once 

 Mupposed to be a distinct species, but is now generally 

 considered to be a slight variety of the Kusa hippelaphus 

 of Java. Deer are often tamed and petted, and their llesh 

 is so much esteemed by all Malays, that it is veiy natural 

 they should endeavour to introduce them into tlie remote 

 islands in which they settled, and whose Ixuciuiant forests 

 seem so %veU adapted for theii- subsistence. 



The strange babirusa of Celebes is also found in Bourn, 

 but in no otlier Moluccan island, and it is somewhat difii* 

 cult to imagine how it got there. It is tiiie that there is 

 some approximation between the birds of the Sula Islands 

 (where the babirusa is also found) and those of Eouru, 

 which seems to indicate that tliese islands have recently 

 been closer together, or that some inter\'ening land ha* 



