w h f t r S ’S f e t 1 8°!-d 8X6 ml® ° f ly that are abuada“t, “ d respecting
over thtf J 6 “ * °f thf 5 nofixr«« P 1 oi tile island, and procured by * tThe* 7r uwdied ewlya sdhoinmgsi nofa te d
forest coverT thn 18 e*P?rted than from any other island, except Borneo. A deep
trees of which rL H h m 'i Gt‘lebes> as those of the other islands, some of the
Bago coco and ™ , ? 13 n° °ne tbem) yield useful building timber. The
pepper cloves 8 ”? pa appear to be natives of the island, but neither black
S a c t t d th l cA megV a“ phor' nor benzoin, those commodities which so early
The t i l c<” ^ °f grangers to some of the other islands. 7
prey wMch f w t e r i s e ethat T ^ m ®, absenee of a11 tbe larSer animals of
some ^xtent of Bnrneo ifV th® Mala7 Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and even to
fnnily only one ^mall cat n°r . le°pard> and of the whole feline
wanting, and of tWs class the hov tlm R11^ - rhlaacer°s> and the Tapir are also
only representatives the toot h°g> the Babi-rusa or hog-deer, and the horse are the
i ^ ^ C S hl last “ ost Probably a stranger, become wild. The wild ox
Celebes h r f f m J lm i 1 Pemnsula, Sumatra, Java, and Borneo is not found to
place In Celebes ammal forming the link between the ox and antelope, takes its
r f0Und f0r the first time representa-
and New Oni™ P°ucbed animals, which continue through the Molucca
The DeoDle of Vv? u 7 b®,oom6,the fading type of the quadrupeds of Australia.
Java S um a tl L d throughout of the same race with all the inhabitants of
aud * and Borneo, men of short stature, of a yellowish brown complexion
mmeeddiaihte lb ectw^een ^th'er ’N^ eigtrho SaCndan tthy eb Meaarlda'y . NToh nee sgorcoi arla cseta teex ipstrse,s nenotrs I nevyeTrvc vea froiotetv
L ““ ,!a™geSl an 18 alleSed cannibals, to men possessing a knowledge of letters’
Ih e languages are as numerous as the tribes of the island. Three of thfm onlv have
ltafmw™r*in«™c f o. fd ce Ti ih Tlanwgul^ageti ToSf th' e- tnhe0i ghbouri.tnhge Mislaacnads saorf> aBnode ttohne. MWandhaerr,e voer rf otuhre,
languages of Celebes are written the character is the same, a peculiar one which
o rW u rfZ tio n °tb“ alPhabets< atld 'the invention of which is ascribed to 1 9 Bugis
or wugi nation. The most civilised tribes are found in the south-western peninsula
Boeton T d Mn 1 maiQ body of the island, and on M g Q |
consist o c L r™ ’ « . x t which may be considered as parts of Celebes. They
c h d h w f u ? glS’, ,Ma?assar> tbe Mandar, and the Butung nations. An inferior
ilisation belongs to the inhabitants ;of the more easterly part of the long and
G o ro n ^ T ihern P“ lula’ where we find the nations speAfog the Menadf and
y l u j i, g5 geS' mountains of the interior of the island, generally are
K»™n Wllf races, whom the Malays call Dyaks, as they do the peopie of
Borneo and Sumatra m the same state of society. The very centre of the island is
eevve rr,^ iss pprrooLbabblvlyP oonnPllyv ’aC nanatKi ve term for “ sa^visaeged..”i nbLaibkeiT tahne tws iTldu rra^ce sw ohfi crhL, h™o "
these are professed head-hunters, and some of them, it is alleged, even cannibals All
d ltin c f raC6S are- ? PP°8ed to be di™Ied in to ’many tribes, each wi?h its own
distinct tongue, as is the case with the inhabitants of Borneo, but, in fact little or
non I t-18 ? wn respecting themselves or their languages. Besides the indigenous
population, there are settled on many of the coasts of the island, as fishermen
“ r ’r °.f b® wandering Malays called the Bajau, the same people that are to be
traced m similar situations from Sumatra to New Guinea.
MMaallaayvss ?annTdT J!avv»aVnaensCee,i buntta,t gi°ennSe r°a^llyC,e wleibthes l ePsrsa scktiislle t haalln ,t hate leuassetf, ubly atrhtes lkanttoewr nT tho e tshoiel
M a S t ' d l t o tfi C?“ pared with ‘hat Of Java’and the X volcanic
i i greatly inferior as the consequence. It is stated that tha
arable land of Celebes must lie fallow for five or six years before it i« -fit
vearfo vear tbat,°f Java’ in 80 far as regards irrigated land, is cultivatedfrom
skfii ye.ar„w?th°u t interruption, and this is certainly proof at once of the inferior
skill and inferior fertility of the former. The only part of Celebes which produces a
wR °7rn 7- exPortation is the eastern portion of the northern peninsula
ticated forVfoodmC f f 13*10“ p^eTads- The croP8 grown, and the animals domesrreecceenntt
ttiimmeess tthhef !cu lture o7f c^offe e uh®a s ibfe’ eanre i-ntbtreo dSuacmeed basy itnh et hnea tiwveesst eth™em isslealnvdess. anInd
m the northern peninsula of the caco. The only manufacture in whlhThe dvfiised
inhabitants excel is that of checked cottons distinguished for their durability and
£ tX T™’3 *;s°"eh ”°* T of their own, and the women, the spinners, weavers, and dyers. These cloths
CELEBES 89 CELEBES
are largely exported to the European and other emporia of the west, and maintain
their place in competition with the manufactures of Manchester and Glasgow.
But the chief bent of the civilised inhabitants of Celebes is to maritime enterprise
impelled perhaps in this direction from the stubborn nature of the soil, and thé
physical form of the island, with so extensive a coast, and no part of the land very
remote from a sea unusually productive in human food. From whatever causes it
proceeds, the inhabitants of Celebes are, at present, the most adventurous and skilful
native mariners and merchants of the Archipelago. Their little vessels of peculiar
build, called Padewakan by the Malays, and of the burden of from 40 to 50 tons
conduct the carrying trade from one end of the Archipelago to the other, their outward
and homeward voyages being guided by the monsoons. Besides the trade
conducted from Celebes itself, the people of this island are to be found as settlers in
every part of the Archipelago where there is trade and protection, and many vessels
belonging to them sail from such settlements, so that altogether probably not fewer
than 800 vessels belong to them. Their outward cargos consist of such articles as
the following, cotton cloths, gold dust, birds-nests, tortoise-shell, tripang, scented
woods, coffee, and rice.
The total population of a great island, most of which has never been explored by
Europeans, or even trodden by them, must be a matter of mere estimate. A computation
of that portion of it under the direct sovereignty of the Netherlands, made
in 1838, gave the number at 410,000. Of this, the northern peninsula, and some
portion of the eastern, amounted to 178,272, the rest being contained in the southern
part of the south-western peninsula. The Dutch possessions are estimated to contain
1674 geographical leagues, and if the rest of the island be equally well peopled as
these, it follows that the total population would amount to 888,297. I t has been
loosely estimated at 3,000,000, which a careful and judicious writer, M. Melville de
Carnbée, considers an extravagant estimate, and reduces to 1,104,000, although on
what foundation, I am not aware. If we estimate the total population at 900,000 in
round numbers, we shall, probably, not underrate it, when it is considered how much
of the island is known to be in the possession of rude and savage tribes, and how
much of it is an absolute wilderness. Were Celebes as well pèopled as Java, it ought
according to the census of the latter, to contain above 14,000,000 inhabitants, but
its population in proportion to area is, probably, not above one-fifteenth part of’ this
number, or in other words, every square mile of Java contains as many inhabitants
as 15 square miles of Celebes. This comparison gives a tolerably fair notion of the
relative fertility and civilisation of the two islands.
With respect to the history of Celebes, it is hardly necessary to say that it was
utterly unknown to the European nations of antiquity, or the middle ages. . I t seems
even to have been very little, if at all, known to the Asiatic strangers who frequented
the Archipelago long before Europeans, for it yielded none of the productions which
attracted them to the other islands. These parties had given names to Sumatra, to
Java, to Borneo, but they had bestowed none on Celebes. Barbosa is the first
European writer who makes mention of the island, but he evidently thought that
the country which he so called was not one island, but many. “ Passing ” savs he
“ the islands of Malueo (the Moluccas), there exist other islands to the west from
which occasional y come (to the Moluccas) a fair people, naked from the waist upwards.
Yet they have cloth woven from a certain material like straw, with which thev cover
then; nudities. They speak a language of their own. Their barks are ill-constructed
and m them they come to the aforesaid Maluco Islands to load with cloves, copper’
tin, and ^cloths of Cambay. They bring for sale, swords very long and broad of
one edge (at present well known to the Malays under the name of klewang) “ with
other works in iron, and much gold. These people eat human flesh, and if the king
of Maluco has a criminal to execute, they ask for him as a favour to eat, as if askin-
tor a.hog.^The islands from which these people come are called Celebe.”—Ramusio^
liv?®REavr0S glI eS the name 88 we now write it, not, however, as of one island but
like Barbosa, of many, and he informs us that “ the islands ” of Celebes were dis
covered in the year 1525, by a native vessel, manned by Portuguese, sent from the
K i S0V bi!b tbe islands in question had the reputation of pro-
with the MohiM'nH R ?®S®i.u tbus been fourteen years in commercial intercouse
The account of Cefo°>i'e ®y dl8COTf ed.Celebes, a]though only 60 j g distan(.
1540 or fifteen Tmars nfl6® y tb® blstorlan De C^ to , which refers to the year
some’what ccoonnftuusseeddT, fals- fww enll as, ilnS0 °soVmerey ’p1a8r mticourlea rfsu,l 1i ntahcacnu rtabtae.t ofT Dhies Bisa rhrioss ,a bccuot uint ti s: