They Occupy A Space Of Ten Degrees Of Latitude By Eight Of
Longitude, And They Are Connected By Groups Of Small Islets To
New Guinea On The East, The Philippines On The North, Celebes On
The West, And Timor On The South.
It will be as well to bear in
mind these main features of extent and geographical position,
while we survey their animal productions and discuss their
relations to the countries which surround them on every side in
almost equal proximity.
We will first consider the Mammalia or warm-blooded quadrupeds,
which present us with some singular anomalies. The land mammals
are exceedingly few in number, only ten being yet known from the
entire group. The bats or aerial mammals, on the other hand, are
numerous - not less than twenty-five species being already known.
But even this exceeding poverty of terrestrial mammals does not
at all represent the real poverty of the Moluccas in this class
of animals; for, as we shall soon see, there is good reason to
believe that several of the species have been introduced by man,
either purposely or by accident.
The only quadrumanous animal in the group is the curious baboon-
monkey, Cynopithecus nigrescens, already described as being one
of the characteristic animals of Celebes. This is found only in
the island of Batchian; and it seems so much out of place there
as it is difficult to imagine how it could have reached the
island by any natural means of dispersal, and yet not have passed
by the same means over the narrow strait to Gilolo - that it seems
more likely to have originated from some individuals which had
escaped from confinement, these and similar animals being often
kept as pets by the Malays, and carried about in their praus.
Of all the carnivorous animals of the Archipelago the only one
found in the Moluccas is the Viverra tangalunga, which inhabits
both Batchian and Bouru, and probably come of the other islands.
I am inclined to think that this also may have been introduced
accidentally, for it is often made captive by the Malays, who
procure civet from it, and it is an animal very restless and
untameable, and therefore likely to escape. 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.
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