The island of Timor Is the largest of the Leaser Sunda Islands, being 300 miles long from south-west to north-east, and on an average 45 miles wide. A chain of mountains runs through the middle of the island, and some of the summits attain such an elevation that Flinders compares them with the mountains of Teneriffe. Though the greater part of the island consists of a succession of narrow valleys, and hills or mountains with steep Bides, there are a few large plains, of which one of the largest is at the bottom of Coopang Bay, which is more than ten mile, square. All the rivers are small, and descend so rapid a declivity, that none of them is navigable beyond the tidal point. Time principal objects of agrienIture are rice, maize, millet, pulse, sweet potatoes, and cotton. 31alzo is the principal article of food ; and next to it the sugar of the lontarpalm. In some parts of the island a species of .ago-palm is found, and used as food. Smsli quantities of sugarcane are raised, but not for the purpose of making sugar. Oranges, jack-fruit, &c., abound. The domestic animals are home, buffaloes, sheep, goats, dogs, and cats. The wild animals are buffaloes, deer, hogs, a species of large wild-cat, and monkeys. Gold is found in several of the rivers. Native copper also is said to abound in the Philaran Mountain., which are situated near the centre of the north-west aide of the island. The natives are of a very dark colour, with frizzled bushy hair. They are below the middle size, and rather slight in figure. The chiefs in the southern coast acknowledge the authority of the Dutch. The eastern part of the north coast, as far west as Batoo.Ged6, is under the authority of the Portuguese.
Coopang is situated near the western extremity of the island, and is a large bay, about 12 miles wide at the mouth, and upwards of 20 miles deep. It is formed by the island of Semao on the south-west and a projecting point of Timor on the north, and has excellent anchorage. Fort Concordia, the principal settlement of the Dutch, is situated on the south side of the bay. The trade of this place is con siderable, and is said to amount annually to rather mom than 1,200,000 Spanish dollars. The principal articles of export are wax, sandal-wood, earth-oil, and cattle. The imports are cotton-cloth, chintzes and handkerchiefs, China silks, China ware, China umbrellas, muskets, gunpowder, Iron, coarse British cutlery, and lead. The Chinese and the Bugis visit this place.
The Portuguese have three 'settlements on the northern coast, Batoo-Gedd, Dilli, and Manstatoo. Dilli is the principal settlement. Tho'harbour is open to all northerly winds, but is defended from the swell of the sea by a reef of rocks, which extends across it, leaving only a narrow passage at the north-west end, by which large ships enter the harbour. The town is rather populous, but meanly built, and the small houses of which it consists are scattered over a large tract. The commerce of this place seems not to be inferior to that of Coopang. The principal articles of export are slaves, wax, sandal wood, benzoic, and ambergris, most of which are exported to Macao, except the slaves, which go to other islands of the Indian archipelago, especially to Celebes. The imports are the same as at Coopang, with rather a greater proportion of Chinese goods.
To the north of Timor is the island of Wetter, or Wale, as it is written in Keppel's 'Indian Archipelago.' This island is about 65 miles long and 20 wide. It is a high rocky mass, but much less elevated than Timor. The Dutch had formerly a small establish ment on the south coast. The bulk of the population are Haraforas, but on the coast there are some Malay settlers'. Betweeu Wetta and
Timor are two small islands, Belli and Combing.
The Seroteotti group, situated between 9° and 6° S. lat., 127° and 131° E. long., consists of two rows of islands, which extend between Timor and Wetter on the west and Timorlaut on the east. The southern series consists, besides several smaller islands, of which the greater number are uninhabited, of seven islauds, which, from west to east, are Kisser, Lettu, Mott, Laker, Locan, Scrmatte or Serawatti, and Baber Babd.
Kisser is about 18 miles in circumference, and the surface is hilly. In the valleys, which have a fertile soil, and on the sides of many of the hills, rice is grown, with the sugar-cane, yams, sweet potatoes, tobacco, cotton, and many culinary vegetables, scarcely an available spot being left uncultivated. It contains between 7000 and 8000 inhabitants, some of whom are descended from the Dutch. Two dialects are spoken, which differ much. The natives are of middle size, generally well made, in colour dark brown, hair straight or slightly curled. This island is well provided with buffaloes, cattle, pigs, sheep, and fowls. The island is the resort of traders from Celebes, Amboyna, and Banda, and therefore an emporium for foreign goods, to obtain which it is visited by the natives of the islands to the eastward. The coast of the island is steep and rocky, but there are many small inlets for boats.
Letts, which lies farther east, and is larger than Kisser, is surrounded by reefs at the distance of about half a mile. The interior is moun tainous, but surrounded by a lower tract, which at a short distance from the shores rises into hills, on which the villages are built. Its productions are similar to those of Kisser. Moa is perhaps twice as large as Kisser. It has good anchorage on the east side. The surface is level, except that there is a high mountain, called Kerber', at its north-eastern end. This peak resembles that of Teneriffe, but is not so high. The greatest pert of the island is used as pasture for bnfTaloes, cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. Laker consists of coral rocks, is low and level, and only covered with a thin layer of earth. It contains no large trees, except cocoa-nut palms, and nearly the whole island is covered with low bushes. Them is no fresh-watcr; the inhabitants use min-water, which is collected in tanks. Small quantities of maize, yams, and sweet potatoes are grown. Many hogs and sheep are kept, and also a fcw buffaloes. Loam is surrounded by submarine reefs, on which there are several small islands. It con sists of an elevated mountain, and is inhabited only at the north eastern base of the mountain, where there aro extensive plantations of cocoa-nut and ssgo•trees. Goats and hogs are plentiful. But the most Important productions are tropsng and tortoiseshells. Sera wetti, or Sermotte, is not visited by Europesue, because no anchorage is found near it. It consists of a mass of rocks, running cast and west, and rising abruptly out of the sea. It produces rice, maize, yams, Ac., which, with some domestic animals, are brought to Locan for coarse cloth and a few other articles. The most eastern of the southern row of the Scrawatti Islands is Bobber, or Babtl. It is nearly 30 miles long, with an average width of 10 miles. The surface is mountainous. It has good anchorage at the western extremity, near the village of Tepa. All the villages are in the west and south east districts. The articles of cultivatiou are maize, yams, and cocoa nuts. The domestic animals found iu the other islands are plentiful here ; there are also wild hogs and goats, and many kinds of birds.