Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
XIV
The Natural History of the Timor Group
If we look at a map of the Archipelago, nothing seems more unlikely than that the closely
connected chain of islands from Java to Timor should differ materially in their natural pro-
ductions. There are, it is true, certain differences of climate and of physical geography, but
these do not correspond with the division the naturalist is obliged to make. Between the two
ends of the chain there is a great contrast of climate, the west being exceedingly moist and
having only a short and irregular dry season, the east being as dry and parched up, and having
but a short wet season. This change, however, occurs about the middle of Java, the eastern
portion of that island having as strongly marked seasons as Lombock and Timor. There is
also a difference in physical geography; but this occurs at the eastern termination of the
chain, where the volcanoes which are the marked feature of Java, Bali, Lombock, Sumbawa,
and Flores, turn northwards through Gunong Api to Banda, leaving Timor with only one vol-
canic peak near its centre; while the main portion of the island consists of old sedimentary
rocks. Neither of these physical differences corresponds with the remarkable change in natur-
al productions which occurs at the Straits of Lombock, separating the island of that name
from Bali; and which is at once so large in amount and of so fundamental a character, as to
form an important feature in the zoological geography of our globe.
The Dutch naturalist Zollinger,
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who resided a long time in the island of Bali, informs us
that its productions completely assimilate with those of Java, and that he is not aware of a
single animal found in it which does not inhabit the larger island. During the few days which
I stayed on the north coast of Bali on my way to Lombock, I saw several birds highly charac-
teristic of Javan ornithology. Among these were the yellow-headed weaver (Ploceus hypox-
antha), the black grasshopper thrush (Copsychus amœnus), the rosy barbet (Megalæma
rosea), the Malay oriole (Oriolus horsfieldi), the Java ground starling (Sturnopastor jalla),
and the Javanese three-toed woodpecker (Chrysonotus tiga). On crossing over to Lombock,
separated from Bali by a strait less than twenty miles wide, I naturally expected to meet with
some of these birds again; but during a stay there of three months I never saw one of them,
