358 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
and a race of people of whom almost nothing is known, 
and who may possibly represent the original inhabitants 
of the island. Of the first-named the affinities do not 
appear to be satisfactorily made out: they are of sub- 
Malayan stock, with linguistic peculiarities pointing 
rather to a connection with Celebes than with Bali or 
Lombok. The Buginese and Makassar people immi¬ 
grated in large numbers a few years after the great 
Tambora eruption, which is said to have caused the death 
of some 70,000 of the islanders. They are chiefly con¬ 
fined to the western portion of the island. Five distinct 
languages are spoken, and most of the people are Moham¬ 
medans, except the wild tribes above-mentioned, who are 
pagans. There are two Sultanates—Sumbawa and Bima, 
The Sultan of Bima’s dominions extended not only over 
the eastern half of the island, but over Banta, Komodo, 
and the western part of Flores, and formerly over Sumba 
also. The Dutch rule is, however, acknowledged, and a 
Controleur and small garrison are established at Bima, 
the island, together with the western part of Flores, being 
under the administration of the Besident at Makassar. 
There is, however, no direct jurisdiction, such authority 
as is exerted being carried out through the medium of 
the native rulers. 
Agriculture is much less advanced in Sumbawa than 
in Bali and Lombok. There are no natural reservoirs of 
water, and the streams are often precipitous, and run 
dry in the summer, so that irrigation would be difficult 
even to expert agriculturists. Some of the valleys are 
very fertile, and the frightful eruption of 1815, which 
for some little time after rendered the land unfit for 
cultivation, had as its eventual result a very greatly in¬ 
creased fertility when the volcanic ejecta had become 
thoroughly disintegrated. Bice is very largely grown, 
