BURU (Dutch, Boeroe), an island of the Moluccas, Dutch East Indies, between 3° 4' and 50' S., and 125° 58' and 127° 15' E. It belongs to the residency of Amboyna and stands on the outer wall of Archaean rocks which encloses the symmetrical inner volcanic ring to which the Banda Islands and some of the south western islands belong. Oval in shape, it is gom. long, 5o wide, and in area 3,400 sq.miles. It has high mountains, especially in the north-west, where Mt. Tomahu reaches 8, 2 S4f t., whilst Kaku Siel is almost as high. In the centre of the island there is the large Lake Waikolo, at an altitude of 2,000f t., which has no affluents, and only one outlet, the Wai Nibe, on the north. In the east the mountains are comparatively low, and surrounding Kayeli Bay is a wide, circular, level plain. Crystalline slate occurs in the north, and mesozoic sandstone and chalk in the south ; deposits which are rare in the Archipelago. Most of the island is covered by forest with teak, ebony, and kanari, but the north is bare of trees and overgrown with coarse kussu grass, whilst in swampy parts about Lisela, Kayeli, and Waesama sago palms are abundant. Ambelau Island (sago palms and coconuts) lies off the south-east coast. The mammals of Buru include two very interesting specimens— the babi-rusa, or pig-deer (vouched for by A. R. Wallace, whose hunters killed one during his residence in Buru), and the black, crested baboon (Cynopitliecus nigrescens). Among birds it has kingfishers (Ceyx cajeli), flycatchers, honeysuckers, orioles, and a beautiful sunbird (Nectarines Proserpina), also a rare species of Megapodius, or mound-builder (Megapodius wallacei). The indigenous people of Buru are Alf ur, res' mbling the Alfurs of Ceram. Agriculture is poor, but a few villages have coconut plantations. The coast has people from Buton, Amboyna, the Sula Islands, and other neighbouring coasts, together with some Alfurs, Arabs, and Chinese. Most are Mohammedans, but there are probably 2,000 or 3,00o Christians. The total 'population is estimated at 20,000. The Christians live mostly on the south and south-west coasts and the Mohammedans about Kaveli. The chief industry is the manufacture of cajeput oil, from distil lation from the leaves of the wild Melaleuca cajeputi in Kayeli and other villages along the north coast by Chinese, Arabs, and Sulanese. Millet is grown, and coal is reported to exist. Namlea, on Kayeli Bay, is the chief port, and vessels of the Royal Mail Packet Company call here and at Leksula, on the south-west coast. Ambelau Island has a Mohammedan population of 1,300; the people live by fishing and trading with neighbouring islands. In former times the sultan of Ternate claimed a suzerainty over Buru, and when, in 1683, the Dutch repudiated all their contracts with that monarch, Buru, already possessing a small Portuguese fort at Kayeli, was regarded by the Dutch as open for exploitation.