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.

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. It is evident, therefore, that they have some natural means
of dispersal. There is a popular idea that pigs cannot swim, but Sir
Charles Lyell has shown that this is a mistake. In his "Principles of
Geology" (10th Edit. vol. ii p. 355) he adduces evidence to show that
pigs have swum many miles at sea, and are able to swim with great ease
and swiftness. I have myself seen a wild pig swimming across the arm of
the sea that separates Singapore from the Peninsula of Malacca, and we
thus have explained the curious fact, that of all the large mammals of
th