of our "political economy" to such cases invariably results in the
extinction or degradation of the lower race; whence, we may consider
it probable that one of the necessary conditions of its truth is the
approximate mental and social unity of the society in which it is
applied. 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.)
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