This View Is Rendered
Still More Probable By What Antonio De Morga Tells Us Was The
Custom In The Philippines In 1602.
He says that "the natives of
Mindanao carry about civet-cats in cages, and sell them in the
islands; and they take the civet from them, and let them go
again." The same species is common in the Philippines and in all
the large islands of the Indo-Malay region.
The only Moluccan ruminant is a deer, which was once supposed to
be a distinct species, but is now generally considered to be a
slight variety of the Rusa hippelaphus of Java. Deer are often
tamed and petted, and their flesh is so much esteemed by all
Malays, that it is very natural they should endeavour to
introduce them into the remote islands in which they settled, and
whose luxuriant forests seem so well adapted for their
subsistence.
The strange babirusa of Celebes is also found in Bouru; but in no
other Moluccan island, and it is somewhat difficult to imagine
how it got there. It is true that there is some approximation
between the birds of the Sula Islands (where the babirusa is also
found) and those of Bouru, which seems to indicate that these
islands have recently been closer together, or that some
intervening land has disappeared. At this time the babirusa may
have entered Bouru, since it probably swims as well as its allies
the pigs. These are spread all over the Archipelago, even to
several of the smaller islands, and in many cases the species are
peculiar.
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