The Land Has Been
Raised And Has Sunk Again; The Straits Have Been Narrowed Or Widened;
Many Of The Islands
May have been joined and dissevered again; violent
floods have again and again devastated the mountains and plains,
carrying out
To sea hundreds of forest trees, as has often happened
during volcanic eruptions in Java; and it does not seem improbable
that once in a thousand, or ten thousand years, there should have
occurred such a favourable combination of circumstances as would lead
to the migration of two or three land animals from one island to
another. This is all that we need ask to account for the very scanty
and fragmentary group of Mammalia which now inhabit the large island
of Timor. The deer may very probably have been introduced by man, for
the Malays often keep tame fawns; and it may not require a thousand,
or even five hundred years, to establish new characters in an animal
removed to a country so different in climate and vegetation as is
Timor from the Moluccas. I have not mentioned horses, which are often
thought to be wild in Timor, because there are no grounds whatever for
such a belief. The Timor ponies have every one an owner, and are quite
as much domesticated animals as the cattle on a South American
hacienda.
I have dwelt at some length upon the origin of the Timorese fauna
because it appears to be a most interesting and instructive problem.
It is very seldom that we can trace the animals of a district so
clearly as we can in this case to two definite sources, and still
more rarely that they furnish such decisive evidence of the time, the
manner, and the proportions of their introduction. We have here a
group of Oceanic Islands in miniature - islands which have never formed
part of the adjacent lands, although so closely approaching them; and
their productions have the characteristics of true Oceanic islands
slightly modified. These characteristics are: the absence all Mammalia
except bats; and the occurrence of peculiar species of birds, insects,
and land shells, which, though found nowhere else, are plainly related
to those of the nearest land. Thus, we have an entire absence of
Australian mammals, and the presence of only a few stragglers from the
west which can be accounted for in the manner already indicated. Bats
are tolerably abundant.
Birds have many peculiar species, with a decided relationship to those
of the two nearest masses of land. The insects have similar relations
with the birds. As an example, four species of the Papilionidae are
peculiar to Timor, three others are also found in Java, and one in
Australia. Of the four peculiar species two are decided modifications
of Javanese forms, while the others seen allied to those of the
Moluccas and Celebes. The very few land shells known are all,
curiously enough, allied to or identical with Moluccan or Celebes
forms. The Pieridae (white and yellow butterflies) which wander more,
and from frequenting open grounds, are more liable to be blown out to
sea, seem about equally related to those of Java, Australia, and the
Moluccas.
It has been objected to in Mr. Darwin's theory, of Oceanic Islands
having never been connected with the mainland, that this would imply
that their animal population was a matter of chance; it has been
termed the "flotsam and jetsam theory," and it has been maintained
that nature does not work by the "chapter of accidents." But in the
case which I have here described, we have the most positive evidence
that such has been the mode of peopling the islands. Their
productions are of that miscellaneous character which we should
expect front such an origin; and to suppose that they have been
portions of Australia or of Java will introduce perfectly gratuitous
difficulties, and render it quite impossible to explain those curious
relations which the best known group of animals (the birds) have been
shown to exhibit. On the other hand, the depth of the surrounding
seas, the form of the submerged banks, and the volcanic character of
most of the islands, all point to an independent origin.
Before concluding, I must make one remark to avoid misapprehension.
When I say that Timor has never formed part of Australia, I refer only
to recent geological epochs. In Secondary or even Eocene or Miocene
times, Timor and Australia may have been connected; but if so, all
record of such a union has been lost by subsequent submergence, and in
accounting for the present land-inhabitants of any country we have
only to consider those changes which have occurred since its last
elevation above the waters since such last elevation, I feel confident
that Timor has not formed part of Australia.
CHAPTER XV.
CELEBES.
(MACASSAR, SEPTEMBER TO NOVEMBER, 1856.)
I LEFT Lombock on the 30th of August, and reached Macassar in
three days. It was with great satisfaction that I stepped on a
shore which I had been vainly trying to reach since February, and
where I expected to meet with so much that was new and
interesting.
The coast of this part of Celebes is low and flat, lined with
trees and villages so as to conceal the interior, except at
occasional openings which show a wide extent of care and marshy
rice-fields. A few hills of no great height were visible in the
background; but owing to the perpetual haze over the land at this
time of the year, I could nowhere discern the high central range
of the peninsula, or the celebrated peak of Bontyne at its
southern extremity. In the roadstead of Macassar there was a
fine 42-gun frigate, the guardship of the place, as well as a
small war steamer and three or four little cutters used for
cruising after the pirates which infest these seas. There were
also a few square-rigged trading-vessels, and twenty or thirty
native praus of various sizes. I brought letters of introduction to
a Dutch gentleman, Mr. Mesman, and also to a Danish shopkeeper,
who could both speak English and who promised to assist me in
finding a place to stay, suitable for my pursuits.
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