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promised well until lately, when many of the plantations 
were ruined by disease. 
The mineral products of Celebes are comparatively 
unimportant, although it is possible that further know¬ 
ledge of the country may reveal gold-fields of value. 
Coal is found in various places in the Makassar district, 
but is of poor quality and is not worked. Iron and 
copper are obtained in small quantities by the natives. 
The gold mines are chiefly in the northern peninsula, in 
the native states of Buiil, Mutong, and in the neighbour¬ 
hood of Pagoat, but the methods employed are primitive, 
and, the output passing into the hands of native traders, 
no satisfactory statistics are available. 
9. Islands belonging to Celebes. 
Celebes is rich in islands, which are for the most part 
situated at or near the extremities of the four great 
peninsulas of which it is composed. Thus, from the 
north, the Banka, Talaut, Tulur, and Carcaralong groups 
form a series of stepping-stones, as it were, to the 
southern end of Mindanao in the Philippines. Around 
Balante, the eastern promontory of Celebes, are the 
Togian, Peling, and Xulla groups. Off* the end of the 
south-eastern peninsula lie the large islands Muna and 
Butung (Boeton), while between the south promontory 
and Plores the sea is covered with a multiplicity of reefs 
and islands, of which Salaier only is of importance. 
Of all these, the chain of islands to the north are the 
most interesting in every way. They have scarcely ever 
been visited by Englishmen, but Dr. Hickson’s visit 
to them in 1885 has added considerably to our know¬ 
ledge of them. They were first seen by Europeans in 
1521, when the two remaining vessels of Magellan’s 
