The Moluccas.
— — - — ♦ News has been received of a terrible earthquake which visited the island of Ceram, to the West of New Guinea in \ which four thousand natives were killed, and 500 injured in the catastrophe. The Moluccas, better known ' as the Spice islands, comprise the ' eastmost division of the Malay ' Archipelago, being most of the islands between Celebes and New Guinea 1 belonging to the Dutch. Ceram is the largest of the southern Moluccas, and lies north east of Amboyna, to which Dutch residency it belongs. It is divided into Great and Little Ceram by the Isthmus of Taruno. Its area is 6605 square miles, and it has a population of 195,000. A mountain chain reaches in Nusa Keli a height of 11,---oooft. The population except those residing in the Little Moluccas who are civilised Malays, are what are ■ termed " Alfuros " or uncivilised J natives. The Moluccas lie partly on the line of the great volcanic fault, which sweeps round in a vast kcurve from Sumatra to the Philippines and Japan. There are many active volcanoes on the islands. The Archipelago was discovered by the Portuguese about 151 1 and were handed over to the Spaniards who held them till the Dutch conquered them in 1607.
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Manawatu Herald, 17 October 1899, Page 3
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206The Moluccas. Manawatu Herald, 17 October 1899, Page 3
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