any indigenes, the
whole of the rest of the island, with Batchian and the other islands
westward, being exclusively inhabited by Malay tribes, allied to those
of Ternate and Tidore. This would seem to indicate that the Alfuros were
a comparatively recent immigration, and that they lead come from the
north or east, perhaps from some of the islands of the Pacific. It is
otherwise difficult to understand how so many fertile districts should
possess no true indigenes.

Gilolo, or Halmaheira as it is called by the Malays and Dutch, seems
to have been recently modified by upheaval and subsidence. In 1673, a
mountain is said to stave been upheaved at Gamokonora on the northern
peninsula. All the parts that I have seen have either been volcanic
or coralline, and along the coast there are fringing coral reefs very
dangerous to navigation. At the same time, the character of its natural
history proves it to be a rather ancient land, since it possesses a
number of animals peculiar to itself or common to the small islands
around it, but almost always distinct from those of New Guinea on the
east, of Ceram on the south, and of Celebes and the Sula islands on the
west.

The island of Morty, close to the north-eastern extremity of Gilolo, was
visited by my assistant Charles Allen, as well as by Dr. Bernstein; and
the collections obtained there present some curious differences from
those of the main island. About fifty-six species of land-birds are
known to inhabit this island, and of these, a kingfisher (Tanysiptera
Boris), a honey-sucker (Tropidorhynchus fuscicapillus), and a large
crow-like starling (Lycocorax morotensis), are quite distinct from
allied species found in Gilolo. The island is coralline and sandy, and
we must therefore believe it to have been separated from Gilolo at a
somewhat remote epoch; while we learn from its natural history that an
arm of the sea twenty-five miles wide serves to limit the range even of
birds of considerable powers of flight.

CHAPTER XXIII. TERNATE TO THE KAIOA ISLANDS AND BATCHIAN.

(OCTOBER 1858.)

ON returning to Ternate from Sahoe, I at once began making preparations
for a journey to Batchian, an island which I had been constantly
recommended to visit since I had arrived in this part of the Moluccas.
After all was ready I found that I should have to hire a boat, as no
opportunity of obtaining a passage presented itself. I accordingly went
into the native town, and could only find