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

a fresh and healthy climate, which neither enfeebles the mind nor undermines the physical health, and it may be conceded that Celebes is an enchanted land.

(Adams's Eastern Archipelago.)

SANGIR GROUP.

North of Celebes, between latitude 2 deg. and 4 deg., is the Sangir group, about fifty in number, with an area of 1,500 square miles, and a population of 30,000. Like many of the islands and groups in these seas, they are afflicted with the eruptic volcano, whose destructive ravages are to be seen on every hand. At Great Sangir, the largest island of the group, having an area of some 300 square miles, we find, in the northwest portion, the active volcano of Abu. In March, 1856, a fearful outburst took place here; the burning lava, boiling water, scoria and ashes laid waste the surrounding country, destroying towns and villages, sweeping over the fine plantations, leaving all within reach a vast, burning, smoking waste.

If this were all to relate of this eruption, it could be passed over with barely a glance; but when the sad fate of three thousand people, who lost their lives, caught in the burning lava or in floods of boiling water, or smothered in clouds of sulphurous smoke and ashes, is added, it darkens the history of these island regions like a funeral pall.

This island group produces nearly all of the tropical products in the greatest abundance. With a fertile soil, made beautiful by an industrious people, they appear like gems dotting the southern seas. But, like the neighboring isles, they lie over the track of the great eruptic fire-belt, whose terrible outbursts too fre

quently devastate the lands and convulse the foundations of the deep.

MOLLUCCA ISLANDS.

The name Molluccas is employed in a restricted, and also in a comprehensive or general sense. It is applied, in the first place, to the Royal Islands, lying off the western coast of Gilolo, and washed by the Molluccas Passage, which separates Gilolo from Celebes. In a wider sense, the name Molluccas is applied to all the islands or groups of islands lying between Celebes and New Guinea. They are commonly divided, according to the three residencies, into the Ternate, Amboyna and Banda groups, which contain, respectively, the following principal islands:

1. The Ternate Islands, including the Molluccas proper comprehending Ternate, Gilolo, Batchian, Obi, Mortui, and the Kaiva Islands;

2. The Amboyna Islands, including. Amboyna, Ceram, Bouru, Goram, Amblau, and some smaller isles; and

3. The Banda Islands, including Great Banda or Luthoir, Banda Neira, Pulo Run, Pulo Ai, Goenong Api, Rosengyn, Kapal, Pisang, Spethau and Vronwen.

These numerous islands are all mountainous and mostly volcanic, and their forms of animal and vegetable life exhibit but few and unimportant differences. They may, therefore, be properly comprehended under the one general title of the Molluccas.

We shall visit them in the following order: Banda and adjacent islands; Amboyna, Ceram, Bouru, Goram; and Ternate, Gilolo, Batchian and adjacent islands. The inhabitants are Molluccan-Malays, and