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ARU ISLANDS (Dutch Aroe)

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 705 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ARU ISLANDS (Dutch Aroe) , a See also:

group in the residency of See also:Amboyna, Dutch See also:East Indies; between 5° 18' and 70 5' S., and 134° and 135° E.; the member nearest to the See also:south-See also:west See also:coast of New See also:Guinea lying about 70 M. from it. The larger islands (Wokan, Kobrur, Maikor and Trangan), and certain of the lesser ones, are regarded by the See also:Malays as one See also:land See also:mass which they See also:call See also:tana besar (" See also:great land "). This is justified inasmuch as its parts are only isolated by narrow creeks of curious See also:form, r T. 23ARUNDEL 705 having the See also:character of See also:rivers. The smaller islands number some eighty; the See also:total land See also:area is 3244 sq. m.; and the See also:population about 22,000. The islands are See also:low, but it is only on the coast that the ground is swampy. The See also:principal formation is coralline See also:limestone; the eastern coast is defended by See also:coral reefs, and the neighbouring See also:sea (extending as far as New Guinea, and thus demonstrating a See also:physical connexion with that land) is shallow, and abounds in coral in full growth. A large See also:part of the See also:surface is covered with virgin See also:forest, consisting of See also:screw-pines, See also:palm trees, See also:tree ferns, canariums, &c. The See also:fauna is altogether Papuan. The natives are also See also:Papuans, but of mixed See also:blood. They are divided into two confederations, the Uli-See also:luna and the Uli-sawa, which are hostile to each other. The houses are remarkable as being built on piles sunk in the solid See also:rock and having two rooms, the one surrounding the other.

The See also:

people are in See also:manners See also:complete savages. The natives are governed by rajas (orang kajas), the Dutch See also:government being represented by a posthouder. In the interior is said to exist a tribe—the Korongoeis—with See also:white skins and See also:fair See also:hair, but it has never been seen by travellers. A few villages are nominally See also:Christian, and the Malays have introduced Mahommedanism, but most of the natives have no See also:religion. Dobbo, on a small western See also:island, is the See also:chief See also:place; its See also:resident population is reinforced annually, at the See also:time of the west See also:monsoon, by traders from that See also:quarter, who See also:deal in the tripang, See also:pearl See also:shell, See also:tortoise-shell, and other produce of the islands.

End of Article: ARU ISLANDS (Dutch Aroe)

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