CHAPTER X 
THE TIMOR, GROUP, OR LESSER SUNDA ISLANDS 
1. General. 
From the east end of Java a chain of important islands 
stretches in a straight line for about 800 miles, till it 
seems to be turned aside by encountering the large island 
of Timor, and is then continued by a series of gradually 
diminishing islands for about 400 miles farther. From 
the eastern extremity of Timor another series extends to 
Timor Laut. Between the western end of Timor and 
Sumbawa the islands of Rotti, Savu, and Sumba, or 
Sandalwood, form a kind of loop-line to the principal 
chain. A volcanic belt, with many active volcanoes, 
runs in a direct line from Java to the east end of 
Timor, and thence through Timor Laut to the Ke group. 
Sumba Island and the western half of Timor appear to 
be non-volcanic. 
The whole group of islands we are now considering 
have a very different aspect from most other parts of the 
Malay Archipelago, and especially from the Moluccas, 
being deficient in verdure, for the most part without 
forests, and often absolutely barren. This deficiency of 
forest-covering begins even in Bali, so close to luxuriant 
Java, and increases as we go eastward, till, in the great 
