CERAM, an island of the Dutch East Indies, in the Molucca group. It lies 3° S. and between 127° 45' and 151° E., and is due east of Buru, from which it is divided by the Manipa or Buru strait, in which are the islands of Manipa, Kelang and Boano. It is long, and has an area, with adjacent islands, of 6,621 square miles. Politically, it comes under the residency of Amboina, and for ad ministrative purposes is divided into four districts—West Ceram, Amahai and Wahai (Middle Ceram) and East Ceram, with a controlleur and three gezaghebbers. The island, which, geologically, is composed mostly of eruptive rocks and crystalline limestone in the middle and western portions, and of crystalline chalk in the east, is very mountainous, a fine range of mountains travers ing it from east to west, and nearer to the north coast. The highest peak is that of Nusaheli (9,612 f t.) , and four others exceed 6,000 feet. In some places the mountains extend right to the coast ; in others wide stretches of lowland are sometimes fringed with swamps by the sea-shore. There are many rivers, running to the north mostly, and of these the chief are the Ruata, Bobot and Saputana. They are partly navigable for small craft only during the rainy season, and often dry up altogether during the period of drought. Comparatively little is known of the interior of the island, with the exception of the peninsula of Huammal in the west, which is connected with the main island by a low, narrow isthmus. With Ceram are included Ceram Laut, a cluster of islands on a coral reef, about 2om. long, also Gisser and Kil waru, the Goram islands (Suruaki, Goram and Manavoka), the Matabela group, and the Teor isles, all of which lie south-east of Ceram.
The larger islands are of Tertiary (Miocene) formation, and the others of recent coral. None has hills of over i,000ft. and most are thickly wooded, whilst Suruaki has extensive swamps. Many of the Matabela islands have rugged hills, covered with coconut palms, and some of the Teor group are entirely waterless, owing to the previous nature of their coral rock.
Ceram is covered with dense tropical forests, which provide excellent timber (ironwood is general), and yield a variety of forest products, including cajeput oil, damar and wild nutmeg, and in the swamps of the coast and valleys the sago palm thrives abun dantly. Both the flora and the fauna of the island lack variety and characteristic specimens; of a forest in the centre A. R. Wal lace wrote: "I have never been in a forest so utterly desert of animal life as this appeared to be." The cassowary is the outstand ing feature of the fauna, which includes deer, cuscus, pig, shrews, cockatoos, lories, hornbills and birds of paradise, and there are many species of fish in the rivers. The climate is hot and moist, the rainfall being a heavy one, and earthquakes occur. Ceram, together with the islands of Boano and Manipa, has a population of 82,546. It is largely coastal, composed mostly of immigrants from Java, Macassar, Ternate and other parts of the archipelago, and is mixed Malay in character, partly Christian and partly Mo hammedan. The Christians live mainly in the west (the Moham medans in the south-east) and dress and live in the style of the Christian Amboinese, to whom they are nearly related. Fishing and agriculture are the chief pursuits. Most of the tropical fruits of Malaya are grown, also rice, maize, sugar-cane, tobacco and coconuts; sago flour is produced and cajeput oil distilled. Trade in these products is in the hands of Chinese, Arabs and Macassars, but there are several large coconut, spice and other plantations under European supervision and copra is the chief article of ex port. The people of the coasts are semi-civilized; not so those of the interior, who are of a mixed Malay-Papuan stock (with a marked difference between eastern and western tribes), and re tain many savage characteristics, although the practice of head hunting is becoming a thing of the past. They are largely pagan in religion, wear little in the way of clothing, live in houses built on piles, and use as weapons the bow and arrow, parang and lance. They are hunters and fishers, and collect forest products, keep pigs and dogs, have a patriarchal social system and a form of marriage sometimes endogamic, sometimes exogamic. Women have a good position amongst them, and are well treated, and, es pecially among the mountain folk, morality is high. Industry is at a low level. Weaving is known in some parts, and weapons and plaited goods are manufactured. China plates and dishes are considered objects of the highest value, and the people like long ceremonial feasts. There is a secret society among the people of the west, the Kakihan, the main object seeming to be mainte nance of old customs in the face of foreign influence but which has also a strong religious significance, initiation being a form of death and resurrection ritual; and the people generally are divided into the two divisions of Pata-siwa (the Ternate party), and Pata lima (the Tidore party). The Ceramese are a strong and muscular people, cheerful and honest, but inclined to be very excitable, and extremely independent. The natives of the middle and east are far more peaceful in their ways than those of the west, but civiliza tion is making headway amongst all, as the result of increasing trade facilities and the provision of schools in many districts, maintained by the Dutch Government, with Amboinese head masters. Amahai, in the south (centre), has a good harbour, and this, and Piru (west), Wahai (north), Tehoru (south), and Bula Bay (east), are ports of call for vessels of the Royal Packet Navigation Co.: roads are non-existent. Ceramese, a language without either script or literature (yet the people sing songs of former ages which have been handed down orally), is divided into thirty-five different dialects, and is nearly related to the indigenous language of Amboina. Malay is used commonly on the coasts. The people of the Ceram Laut islands (pop. 6,000), Gisser and Kilwaru are Mohammedan. They are fishers, build boats, weave sarongs, manufacture knives and live in quite well-built wooden houses, in tidy villages, generally by the sea-shore. Gisser, with Kilwaru, is a trade-centre for the region of south-eastern Ceram and the islands, and is a port of call for vessels of the Royal Packet Navigation Co. The population of the Goram islands, which are more fertile than those of Ceram Laut, is also about 6,000, and Mohammedan, the people being fishers and traders and the women good weavers. The Matabela islanders are Moham medan also ; they produce scarcely anything beyond copra, which they trade for the products they lack. Boano has a population of 1,300, Christian and Mohammedan, and an infertile soil, which drives its people to seek a livelihood on neighbouring islands, and Manipa has nearly I,000 inhabitants who grow a good deal of sago.
In the mid-17th century a fort established at Cambello extended Dutch influence, with help from Ternate, which claimed suzerainty. The power of Amboina later helped the Dutch to acquire the whole island in spite of trouble when they destroyed clove plan tations in order to uphold Amboina's monopoly. Later still, there were expeditions against the natives of the interior, but since 1910 all has been quiet and the Wahai garrison was withdrawn in 1914.
(E. E. L.)