Polygamy and concubinage are practised, but not cleanliness. Industry consists of weaving, plaiting and the manufacture of ornaments and weapons. Fishing and copra manufacture occupy people along the coast. Trade is mostly in Chinese, Arab and Malay (Bugis) hands. Many languages and dialects are spoken : Rotti and Savu have languages of their own.
first Dutch landing on Timor was in 1613 (the Portuguese had settled there nearly zoo years before), after a Portuguese garrison had been driven out of a fort on the neighbouring island of Solor. The Raja of Kupang permitted a settlement and from 1619 onwards the Dutch remained there.
Their chief enemies were the "black" Portuguese of Occussi, whose allies were the Timorese of Ambenu and Amarassi, and occasionally the white Portuguese, from Portuguese Timor. In 1749 the whole combination invested Kupang, but the Dutch succeeded in relieving the garrison and the Portuguese were almost annihilated. Twenty years later the Portuguese, whose headquarters had been Lifau, in Occussi, made Dilli their capital, but the "black" Portuguese of Occussi continued their attacks on the Dutch at Kupang, who, beyond making a treaty with 15 of the neighbouring Timorese chiefs, did little to resist them. In 1797 the Dutch, who by this time had extended their influence as far as Atapupu, were in sufficient force to resist successfully a British attempt to take possession of Timor in the name of the Prince of Orange, which they repeated on the occasion of a sec ond British attempt, in 181o, but after the capitulation of Java, the Dutch flag on Timor was hauled down, and during the period of British rule the Portuguese seized the Dutch district of Ata pupu, being ejected therefrom by the Dutch when Timor was handed back to them by the Convention of 1814, though this led to many "incidents" and frontier disputes.
The Dutch claimed the western half of Timor, but no attempt had been made to delimit frontiers. A Dutch offer to buy out the Portuguese was refused, and in 1851 the attempt of a Portu guese Commissioner to fix a boundary was repudiated by his Government. In 1859, however, a treaty was signed in which the main boundary through the centre of the island was described, and also the boundaries of the enclaves, claimed by both parties, though no previous survey had been made. In 1893 a Convention was signed agreeing to carry out a survey of the main boundary, and, if possible, abolish enclaves. In 1898 a Boundary Commis sion was set up, the main boundary was surveyed first, and then the boundaries of the enclaves, the task being complicated by dissensions amongst the native chiefs concerned, who forcibly prevented the survey of territories in dispute between themselves. In 1904 a treaty was made recording the new boundaries, but the ratification was postponed until the Occussi enclave survey could be carried out. A mixed commission formed in 1909 stopped
work owing to a dispute about the meaning of an article of the Treaty of 1904, there were frontier affrays in 1913, and then came further treaty disagreement, resulting in recourse to arbi tration. In 1914 the Swiss Plenipotentiary at Paris, M. Lardy, a member of the Hague Court of Arbitration, decided in favour of the Dutch view of the track of the eastern frontier of the Occussi enclave ; Portugal accepted it and the Treaty of was then carried into effect.
Dutch Timor has an area of a little more than 5,000 sq.m., with a population of about 360,000. The capital, Kupang, and the seat of the Resident, is situated on Kupang Bay, in the extreme west of the island. It has a harbour, and is the chief port, the only other port being Atapupu, on the western coast, near the boundary between Dutch and Portuguese Timor. Both ports (also Bai, in Rotti, and Seba, in Savu), are places of call for vessels of the Royal Packet Navigation Company, which give communication with the other Lesser Sunda Islands, with Celebes, and with Java. Kupang, which has a population of 5,493 (275 Europeans and Eurasians, and 1,286 foreign Asiatics, mostly Chinese), is a difficult port during the north-west monsoon. Other towns are Sukubianaua, Sufa, Tiamplong, Putain, Lalogama and Atambua. Exports from Timor and Dependencies during 1926 were 66,974 and imports 234,714 guilders, consisting chiefly of sandalwood, copra, ponies, cattle and hides. Lack of inland communication hinders the development of the country. Beyond a riding road across country from Kupang to Atapupu, and thence southwards, roads do not exist, but money has been voted for a survey on which to base a plan for road construction. Timor has no cable connection with Java or any other part of the Archipelago, but Kupang has a wireless station.
Portuguese Timor has an area of 18,989 sq. kilometres. The population is 442,261, the most heavily populated district being that of Motael, in which the capital, Dilli, is situated. Until 1896 Portuguese Timor was joined administratively to the Portu guese colony of Macao, in China, but in 1896 it became auton omous, under a governor, who resides at Dilli, which is also the chief port of the colony, and is served by vessels of the Dutch Royal Packet Navigation Company, there being no Portuguese steamship service between Portuguese Timor and other parts of the Malay Archipelago, but a small Portuguese steamer takes cargo to Kupang. Its population is 3,500. Other towns are Liquica, Manatuto and Baucan, on the west coast. Exports from Portuguese Timor in 1926 were 1,235,878 patacas and imports 1,168,242 patacas, chief exports being coffee, copra, hides, cocoa, shells and wax; imports : cotton piece-goods, petroleum and wine.