level of the soil, and as the new formation rises and broadens, a thousand seeds are sown upon it, a thousand fresh roots descend to strengthen and consolidate it; and in this way the mangrove repels the wave and asserts the supremacy of the land over the baffled sea.

On the mountain slopes, from an altitude of five hundred to that of six thousand feet, the forest is largely composed of oaks of several species. They are noble trees, and of much value; but in a commercial sense a higher value attaches to the Dryanobalops, which yields the all-important camphor. About one degree below the equator, its place is occupied by the Diptuocarpus, a tree of gigantic proportions, which produces the resin called "dammar."

On the rough bark of many of the forest trees grows that extraordinary parasite, the Rafflesia, the largest known flower, measuring fully three feet in diameter, and expanding a calyx which is capable of holding six quarts of water.

The principal exports of Sumatra are capsicums, ginger, betel, tobacco, indige, cotton, camphor, benzoin, cassia or common cinnamon, rattans, ebony, sandalwood, teak and aloes, ivory, rice, wax, and edible birds' nests. To the list of the island products must be added rice, maize, sweet potatoes, taro, banana, mango, durian, pawpaw and citron. But even this enumeration gives but a faint idea of the variety and extent of its natural treasures.

CLIMATE.

Its climate is well adapted to the growth of so luxuriant a vegetation. Lying directly under the equator, the island enjoys great equability of temperature,

the thermometer seldom falling below 76 deg. or rising above 93 deg. The constant rains brought up by the southeast monsoons counteract or mitigate the prevailing heat. In the highlands and mountain districts the climate is healthy, and the natives attain a considerable longevity; but in the low ground along the coast, and in the neighborhood of the mangrove swamps, Europeans, at least, drag on a sickly existence, and malaria exercises its deadly ravages.

The principal cities are Padang (the capital), Bencoolen and Palambang.

INHABITANTS.

The inhabitants of Sumatra are mostly of the great Malayan family, but in the north they seem to have intercrossed with the Hindus, and are distinguished by their strength, their stature and their fierce courage. The Chinese are numerous on the east coast. North of Menangkabu, where the pure Malays reside, live the Battahs or Batakhs, whose exact relation to the Malay it seems impossible to determine. They approximate, in many respects, to the Caucasian type, with fair complexion, brown or auburn hair, well-shaped lips and an ample forehead. All the natives of Sumatra, with the exception of some inland tribes, profess a modified Mohammedanism.

In Sumatra we find about fifteen volcanoes, four of which-Dempo (10,440 feet), Indrapura (12,140), Talang (8,480), and Merapi (9,700 feet)—are of considerable importance; the others do not exceed six or seven thousand feet in elevation.

(Notes from Adams's Eastern Archipelago.)

SINGAPORE.

This little island, located between latitude 1 deg. and 1 deg. 32 min. north, and longitude 103 deg. 30 min. and 104 deg. 10 min. east, has long been celebrated for its many valuable products, being more widely known than almost any other island in the East. Situated at the eastern extremity of the Straits of Mallacca, it has long formed the distributing point for the products of these regions.

The town of Singapore has about 100,000 inhabitants-Malays, Hindoos and Chinese-and is located a mile or so back from the straits, in the mouth of a river; the freight to and from the town being handled by lighters.

The island itself has an area of about 220 square miles, and is surrounded by about fifty small islets, of no great commercial importance in the past or present as distributing points, yet the fisheries, the turtle, tortoise and beche de mer, found on some of these little desert spots, are considerable. The whole area, including the islets, may be estimated at 400 square miles. The British hoisted their flag over Singapore in 1819, but it was not till 1824, when the main island, with the adjoining isles located within ten miles of the shores of Singapore, were ceded to the East India Company by the Malayan princes, that Singapore sprang into commercial importance.

The Straits of Mallacca narrow down at one point to a quarter of a mile in width between the island and the Malayan Peninsula. In some respects this is unfortunate for the inhabitants of Singapore, as one of the favorite methods of the tiger, the great man-eater of the East Indies, is to swim this channel from the

mainland and make a meal off of a native. It has been estimated that Singapore loses one inhabitant a day in supplying this demand.

CELEBES.

Between the parallels of latitude 1 deg. 45 min. north and 5 deg. 52 min. south, and the meridians of longitude 118 deg. 45 min. and 125 deg. 17 min. east, lies an island of the most extraordinary configuration, which some writers compare to a tarantula spider, others to a couple of horse-shoes joined at the fore parts. Neither comparison is very accurate. It consists of four long peninsulas-the largest being the northernmost of which two are directed eastward, with a deep gulf between them (the Tomini Gulf), and two others southward, with the Boni Gulf separating them from each other, while the first of the two is separated from the second of the other two by the Tolo Gulf. These four peninsulas project from a narrow neck of land which runs due north and south.

The peninsula of Menado, the first of the four peninsulas, sweeps north, then east, and lastly northeast, with a length of 400 miles and a breadth of 12 to 60 miles. That of Bulante, east, is 160 miles long and from 30 to 95 miles broad; the southeast peninsula is about 150 miles by 30 to 90 miles; and the southwest (that of Macassar) forms a tolerably regular parallelogram, 200 miles long and 65 miles broad. They are all formed of mountain masses, and describe a kind of backbone, 150 miles long and 105 miles broad.

The Gulf Tomini or Gorontala, on the northeast, is 240 miles long, and from 55 miles at its mouth it broadens, as it strikes inland, to fully 100 miles; that

of Tomaiki, or Tolo, on the east, is of ample dimensions at its mouth, but narrows towards its upper extremity; and that of Macassar or Boni, on the south, is probably upwards of 200 miles in length, with a width varying from 35 to 80 miles.

Apart from these conspicuous indentations, the coast line is broken up by numerous bays, such as those of Meuado, Amoorang, Kwandang and Tontoli, on the north; Palos and Panepane on the west, and Bulante, Tolowa, Nipa-Nipa and Staring on the east.

To sum up, we have an island of Celebes, 150 miles long and 105 miles broad, throwing off four peninsulas of varying magnitude; the superficial area of the whole island being estimated at 71,791 square miles.

We might conjecture that an island so exposed to the sea breezes would be visited by abundant moisture, and being included in the tropic zone, and immediately under the equator, would necessarily present a vegetation of remarkable richness and variety. Such, indeed, is the case, and Celebes has fair claims to be regarded as the loveliest and most bounteous of all the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Its scenery combines every charm that can gratify an artist or inspire a poet; it has the immense forests of Corneo and the meadows and vales of England; the exuberant wealth of the tropics, and the gentleness and grace that distinguish the regions of the temperate zone.

Broad rivers, lofty heights, far-spreading woods, deep, bowery hollows, immense breadths of fragrant greensward-it has all these, mingled with rare and beautiful forms of vegetation, and enlivened by glorious displays of color, which give to each bright, strange landscape an individuality of its own. To all this add