THE TIMOR GROUP 
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length, high and barren, the north-west coast formed by 
arid mountains about 4000 feet high. The country 
seems absolutely bare of trees, looking like a recent 
volcanic product. The inhabitants are akin to those of 
Timor, and are said to be harmless and timid. There are 
a few Bugis settled on the coast, and the principal pro¬ 
duct is beeswax. The population is believed to be about 
8000. 
The appellation Serwatti Islands includes the scattered 
groups which intervene between Wetta and Timor Laut. 
They have, however, no geographical unity, though 
ethnographically they are connected by the fact that they 
are for the most part inhabited not by people of 
Papuan or sub-Papuan race, as might be expected, but by 
natives of Malay stock, numbers of whom are nominally 
Christians. In the last century the Dutch had small 
settlements on many of the islands, and the individuals 
then converted became, as a result of their education, the 
ruling class. Although many of the Dutch posts were 
given up, the islands relapsing into a terra incognita 
which has only of late been re-explored, this curious state 
of things has persisted, and the people are industrious 
and peaceable instead of being head-hunting savages. 
Following the chain of the Lesser Sundas onwards, 
we come to Roma, a compact island about 10 miles in 
diameter, with an area of 150 square miles. It has a 
single high peak, and is surrounded by a number of 
small islands, the exact position of which is not yet 
known. The soil is very fertile, and the inhabitants, 
of whom there are over 1000, are professedly Christians. 
About 80 miles farther to the north-east lies a very 
similar group, the central and most important island of 
which is Damma, where, at the village of Wulur, a Post¬ 
holder is stationed. It has an active volcano 3000 feet 
