SULA ISLANDS, a chain of islands (Sulla, Xulla, Dutch Soela), east of Celebes, Dutch East Indies, really an extension of the eastern peninsula of that island. There are three large islands, Taliabu, Mangola and Sula Besi, and several smaller ones. Taliabu and Mangola, very long and narrow, extend west and east (with Lisamatula), 135 miles. Both are mountainous, thickly forested, and thinly populated. Taliabu, the largest in area, very little known, is said to contain mountains from 3,00o to 4,000 ft. high, and hot springs. Mangola, which is much narrower than Taliabu, has Mt. Buja in its western part. Sula Besi, the smallest of the three, is well populated and cultivated. Wallace considers there is an approximation between the birds of the Sula isles and those of Buru, indicating that intervening land has disap peared. The babirusa and crested baboon of Buru are found in the Sula islands. Weber's Line, suggested as an alternative divi sion between the Oriental and Australian zoological regions, in place of the Wallace Line, passes east of the Sula Islands, but west of Buru. The islands produce good timber for shipbuilding and the natives are good navigators. Damar is collected in the forests; rice, maize, tobacco and sugar-cane are grown on Sula Besi, where cultivation is far superior to that of the other islands, and the sago palm is common, forming the staple food on Taliabu and Mangola. Coal of inferior quality is found on Sula Besi,
where the natives weave sarongs and plait mats. The population of the islands in 1930 was 20,254, with 25 Europeans and Eurasians. The people resemble the natives of Buru and Ceram; Wallace thinks the Sula islanders are Malays from eastern Celebes. Most of the natives are pagans, but Mohammedanism is making headway, particularly in Sula Besi, the capital of which island, Sanana (pop. 1,725) is the residence of the Gezaghebber in charge of the islands, which form part of the residency of Ternate. Sanana, formerly the haunt of pirates, has a good road stead, and is a port of call for vessels of the Royal Packet Navi gation company. The Banggai or Peling islands, which lie off the western end of Taliabu, and also form part of the residency of Ternate, are little known, except that Peling is mountainous and well forested, with bays affording anchorage, but also with reefs. They furnish trepang and turtle. The people, who are mostly pagan, though Mohammedans live along the coast, are poor and miserably housed. Royal Packet Navigation vessels call at Bang gai. The Sula and Banggai isles once formed part of the territory of the Sultan of Ternate and came under Dutch influence when, in 1683, the Dutch stripped the Sultan of his possessions.
(E. E. L.)