TIMOR, t.-mOr'. The largest and most south eastern of the Lesser Sunda Islands, situated 330 miles southeast of Celebes and 700 miles east of Java, between which and Timor the plain chain of Lesser Sunda Islands intervenes (Map: Aus tralasia. F 3). It has an extreme length from northeast to southwest of about 280 miles, with an average breadth of 55 miles, and an area es timated at 12,395 square miles. The coasts are for the most part steep, lined with coral reefs, and difficult of The interior is not well known. It is traversed by a forest-covered mountain range, and the geological formation seems to be a core of slate, diorite, and serpentine flanked by beds of carboniferous limestone, Trias sic sandstone, and some Tertiary formations. The mineral wealth is considerable. but imexploited. The climate is hot and unhealthful on the C011 st, and the rainfall is very slight, especially in the south. The flora and fauna are less varied than in the other Eac-t. Indian islands, and the island forms a transition region between these and Australia. The resources of the island arc not developed; agriculture is primitive, and the ex ports are few and small in quantity, coffee, wax, and a little sandalwood being the chief staples.
Politically the i--land is divided nearly equally between _Holland and PortugaLthe latter possess ing the northeastern half, with the seat of gov ernment at the small town of Deli. The Dutch portion forms the principal member of the Resi dency of Timor, which includes also the islands of Rotti, Savn, and Sumba, Eastern Flores, and the Solar and Allor groups. The capital of the residency is Kupang. a town of about 7000 in habitants at the southern extremity of the island. The inhabitants are mainly Papuans with some intermixture of Malays and Chinese. Their num ber is vaguely estimated at 400,000. The num ber of Europeans in the entire Dutch residency was only 256 in 1895. Consult: Bastian, Indone sien (Berlin, 1885) ; Forbes, A Naturalist's Wan derings in the Eastern .trchipelago (London, 1885) Wichma nn, Sammlangen des Geologischen Reichmuseuin (Leyden, 18S1-54).