380 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



is why we have come down the eastern side of 

 the island. Here the seasons on the east and west 

 coasts alternate^ as we have ah^ady noticed in 

 Ceram and Burn, though those islands extend east 

 and west, while Celebes extends north and south. 

 To-day we passed through the Bangai group, lying 

 between the Sula Islands and Celebes. From the 

 appearance of the water, and from such soundings 

 as are given, there appears to be only a dc]:>th 

 of some thirty fathoms in the straits. These islands, 

 thereforej not only have fonned a part of the ad- 

 jacent peninsula of Celebes, but do at the present 

 day. 



A remarkable similarity has been noticed be- 

 tween the fauna of BachiaUj near the southern end 

 of Gilolo, and that of Celebes, and in the Bangai and 

 the Sula Islands we prol)ably behold the remnants 

 of an old peninsula that once completely joined 

 those two lands. When we compare Celebes and 

 Gilolo, we notice that the Bangai and Sula groups, 

 stretchins: off to the east and southeast from one of 

 the eastern peninsulas of Celebes, are analogous in 

 position to Gebi, Waigiu, and Battanta, and the ad- 

 jacent islands which are but the remnants of a pen- 

 insula that in former times connected Gilolo to the 

 old continent of New Guinea and Australia. 



Now, at sunset, we were approaching the Buton 

 Passage, which separates the large island of Butou 

 from Wangi - wangi, The Sweet - scented Island.'^ 

 This is a gi*eat highway for ships bound from Singa- 

 pore to China in the west monsoon, and several are 

 now here, drifting over the calm sea. 



