368 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
in the interior, but along the coast, especially in the 
north, the villages are numerous. Mr. Forbes regards 
the natives as a mixed race of Papuan, Polynesian, and 
Malay blood. They use the fork-like hair-combs of the 
Papuans, and are very clever carvers of wood and ivory, 
the latter substance being brought as tusks from Singa¬ 
pore and Sumatra by Buginese traders. Drunkenness is 
rather common, the spirit used being distilled from the 
sap of the coco-palm. Tobacco is only grown for chew¬ 
ing. The constant tribal or village wars which appear 
everywhere to exist oblige the people to live in stockaded 
towns, set about with sharp-pointed bamboo stakes, and 
agriculture suffers in consequence, and not the less from 
a dearth of water. Maize is the staple, but sweet potato, 
manioc, and sugar are also grown. Neither rice nor sago 
appears to be cultivated, but the natives are industrious 
fishermen. 
Mr. Forbes found characteristic Australian trees con¬ 
spicuous by their absence. Eucalyptus, casuarinas, and 
phyllode-bearing acacias were not seen, but urostigmas, 
sterculias, and myrtles formed a conspicuous feature of the 
flora. The avifauna is markedly Papuan, with a slight 
Timor element, and this Timorese affinity is also shown 
by the Lepidoptera. There are no deer, and the tree 
kangaroo (. Dendrolagus ), a striking Papuan form, has not 
been found, though existent, as we have seen, in the Ke 
Islands. On Yamdena large herds of buffalo have run 
wild. 
9. Sumba, Savu, and Timor. 
Sumba, the little island of Savu, and the group of 
which Timor forms the main island, are in no way con¬ 
nected with the great Sunda chain just described. They 
form a group apart, but whether connected with each 
