CELEBES 
295 
village is Kurukan, 3500 feet above the sea; and here, 
in the month of June, the thermometer is usually 62° 
Fahr. in the morning, and rarely rises above 80° during 
the day. Here oranges thrive better than in the low¬ 
lands, bearing abundance of most delicious fruit, and 
rice produces good crops without irrigation. The scenery 
is magnificent. Numerous volcanic mountains clothed 
with the richest vegetation lend grandeur to the prospect, 
and form a charming contrast to the coffee plantations, 
the rice fields, the gardens, and the neat cottages that 
everywhere meet the eye. 
The chief towns of Minahasa are Menado and Kema, 
on opposite sides of the peninsula, the former used as the 
chief port during the eastern, and the latter during the 
western monsoon. They are less than twenty miles 
apart, and are connected by a good road. Menado is 
the capital town, and the place where the Eesident lives. 
It is a small but picturesque town, and as almost every 
house stands in a garden and is surrounded by beautiful 
shrubs, trees, and flowers, it has a very charming effect 
as compared with the more mercantile appearance of 
Makassar. Its population is over 4000. An excellent 
system of roads connects all the chief towns and villages 
of Minahasa. The district has of late become very 
populous, and there are now probably not less than 
160,000 inhabitants. 
The coffee tree was first introduced into the Minahasa 
district in 1822, and at the end of 1889, 7,767,159 
trees were under Government cultivation, without includ¬ 
ing private plantations. The industry has been the 
means of converting the country from a wilderness of 
jungle, peopled by head-hunting savages, into a well- 
cultivated garden tilled by natives who are almost with¬ 
out exception Christians. Yet this result has been 
