BACHIAN (Dutch, Batjan), a mountainous island of the Moluccas. It lies in the Molucca sea, close to the south-west coast of Halmaheira, and is in Ternate Residency, Dutch East Indies. It is 52m. long, with a mean width of 23m. ; the northern part is volcanic ; the centre is lower, with an isthmus ; the great est heights are in the south (Labuan Mt., reaching 6,000f t.) . There are no active volcanoes, but sulphurous springs exist, whilst in the south there are ancient and non-volcanic rocks. West of Bachian are Great Tawali, 19m. long and 15 wide, Mandioli, 17m. by 9m. and several smaller islands. The area of the whole group is just under 1,000 sq.m. Gold, copper, and coal exist in small quantities, but a company formed to exploit them has abandoned operations. Bachian's fauna includes a large black crested baboon, (Cynopithecus nigrescens), which exists elsewhere in the archipelago only in Celebes, Sulu, and Buru ; Bachian is the most eastern point on the globe inhabited by any of the apes (Quadrumana). Other mammals are an eastern opossum, (Cuscus ornatus), a little flying opossum, (Belideus ariel), a civet cat, (Viverra zebetha), and several bats. Among the many birds is a bird of paradise, discovered by Wal lace and named of ter him Semioptera Wallacei, or "Wallace's Standard Wing." Other birds are a red Tory, (Lorius garrulus), little lorikeet, (Charmosyna placentis), green parrot, with red bill and head, (Geoffroyus cyanicollis), golden-capped sunbird, (Nectarinea auriceps), racquet-tailed kingfisher, (Tanysiptera isis), a rare goat-sucker, (Batrachostomous crinifrons) and a large and handsome fruit pigeon, with metallic green and rufous plumage. Among butterflies, Bachian possesses the fine blue Papilio Ulysses, and the beautiful "bird-winged butterfly." Wal lace described Bachian as "an island that would perhaps repay the researches of a botanist better than any other in the whole archipelago." It has fine trees including screw-pines, a great variety of surface and soil, a number of small streams, some navigable for small boats for some distance, and its products include sago palm, coconut palm, clove, nutmeg and excellent Moluccas damar (from forests) .
The population of Bachian in 1928 was 12,543, partly people from Ternate and Tidore engaged in collecting forest products, and Javanese and others, working on the plantations of the Bach ian Exploitation Company. The Bachianese are supposed to have come originally from Halmaheira, with whose people they have strong affinities. They cultivate the land on a small scale, fish, and make baskets. Other inhabitants include the Serani, or Christian descendants of the Portuguese, Macassarese, Malays, Halmaheira men, and a few Chinese and Arab traders. Bachian, at the foot of high mountains, is the capital and a port trading in damar, spices, cobra, timber, and mother-of-pearl. The little fort—Barneveld—was built by the Portuguese, and captured from them by the Dutch in 1609; Bachian, hitherto independent, was placed under the suzerainty of the Sultan of Ternate ; when the Dutch superseded him, in 1683, they made it subject to them selves. The Sultan of Bachian still has authority, under the Dutch Government, represented in Bachian by a Controleur.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.-A. R. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, (loth ed., Bibliography.-A. R. Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, (loth ed., 1890) . (E. E. L.)