I Shall Again Refer To This Subject In My Chapter On
Ternate, One Of The Most Celebrated Of The Old Spice-Islands.
The natives of Banda are very much mixed, and it is probable that
at least three-fourths of the population are mongrels, in various
degrees of Malay, Papuan, Arab, Portuguese, and Dutch.
The first
two form the bases of the larger portion, and the dark skins,
pronounced features, and more or less frizzly hair of the Papuans
preponderates. There seems little doubt that the aborigines of
Banda were Papuans, and a portion of them still exists in the Ke
islands, where they emigrated when the Portuguese first took
possession of their native island. It is such people as these
that are often looked upon as transitional forms between two very
distinct races, like the Malays and Papuans, whereas they are
only examples of intermixture.
The animal productions of Banda, though very few, are
interesting. The islands have perhaps no truly indigenous
Mammalia but bats. The deer of the Moluccas and the pig have
probably been introduced. A species of Cuscus or Eastern opossum
is also found at Banda, and this may be truly indigenous in the
sense of not having been introduced by man. Of birds, during my
three visits of one or two days each, I collected eight kinds,
and the Dutch collectors have added a few others. The most
remarkable is a fine and very handsome fruit-pigeon, Carpophaga
concinna, which feeds upon the nutmegs, or rather on the mace,
and whose loud booming note is to be continually heard. This bird
is found in the Ke and Matabello islands as well as Banda, but
not in Ceram or any of the larger islands, which are inhabited by
allied but very distinct species. A beautiful small fruit-dove,
Ptilonopus diadematus, is also peculiar to Banda.
CHAPTER XX.
AMBOYNA
(DECEMBER 1857, OCTOBER 1859, FEBRUARY 1860.)
TWENTY hours from Banda brought us to Amboyna, the capital of the
Moluccas, and one of the oldest European settlements in the East.
The island consists of two peninsulas, so nearly divided by
inlets of the sea, as to leave only a sandy isthmus about a mile
wide near their eastern extremity. The western inlet is several
miles long and forms a fine harbour on the southern side of
which is situated the town of Amboyna. I had a letter of
introduction to Dr. Mohnike, the chief medical officer of the
Moluccas, a German and a naturalist. I found that he could write
and read English, but could not speak it, being like myself a bad
linguist; so we had to use French as a medium of communication.
He kindly offered me a room during my stay in Amboyna, and
introduced me to his junior, Dr. Doleschall, a Hungarian and also
an entomologïst. He was an intelligent and most amiable young man
but I was shocked to find that he was dying of consumption,
though still able to perform the duties of his office.
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