THE MOLUCCAS 
309 
and the rocks, so far as observed, appear to be ancient 
stratified deposits of a highly crystalline character, though 
limestone occurs at its eastern extremity. The great 
central mountain, Husa Heli, is said to be nearly 10,000 
feet high, but no European has ever visited it. 
The vegetation of the Moluccas is exceedingly rich 
and varied, and would well repay systematic exploration. 
Here is the native country of the most precious of spices, 
the clove; and here are also wild nutmegs, cardamoms, 
the kanari nut, and the cajuput-oil tree. Palms and 
pandani are very abundant, dammar pines grow in the 
forests, while ferns, creepers, and flowering shrubs in end¬ 
less variety clothe the forest glades and the rocky beaches 
with exquisite drapery. 
The animal life is much better known, and enables 
us to decide that it belongs generally to the Australian 
type, and more particularly resembles the fauna of Hew 
Guinea. A few of the Asiatic forms of mammalia, re¬ 
sembling those of the western islands, are still found 
here; such as the deer, which abounds in all the larger 
islands, and even in several of the smaller ones, since 
it occurs in Ternate and Tidor, in Banda, and in Ceram 
Laut. The species is almost, if not quite, identical with 
one common in all the great Malay islands, and it may 
very well have been introduced by the Malay colonists. 
Hone of the islands have any monkeys, except Batjan, in 
which is found the tailless baboon-ape of Celebes ; while 
in Burn alone is found the babirusa, another of the 
peculiar forms of that island. Both of these are con¬ 
sidered by Mr. Wallace to have been introduced by 
human agency. Pigs are abundant in all the islands, 
and some of them are believed to be peculiar species. 
The only carnivorous animal is the common civet-cat 
(Viverra tangalunga ); and as the Malays often keep 
