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BURU

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Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 867 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BURU (Buro, Dutch Boeroe or Dutch See also:

East Indies, one of the Molucca Islands belonging to the residency of See also:Amboyna, between 30 4' and 3° 50' S. and 125° 58' and 127° 15' E. Its extreme measurements are 87 m. by 50 m., and its See also:area is 3400 sq. m. Its See also:surface is for the most See also:part mountainous, though the seaboard See also:district is frequently alluvial and marshy from the deposits of the numerous See also:rivers. Of these the largest, the Kajeli, discharging eastward, is in part navigable. The greatest elevations occur in the See also:west, where the See also:mountain Tomahu reaches 853o ft. In the See also:middle of the western part of the See also:island lies the large See also:lake of Wakolo, at an See also:altitude of 2200 ft., with a circumference of 37 M. and a See also:depth of about See also:loo ft. It has been considered a See also:crater lake; but this is not the See also:case. It is situated at the junction of the See also:sandstone and See also:slate, where the See also:water, having worn away the former, has accumulated on the latter. The lake has no affluents and only one outlet, the See also:Wai Nibe to the See also:north. The See also:chief See also:geological formations of See also:Burn are crystalline slate near the north See also:coast, and more to the See also:south Mesozoic sandstone and See also:chalk, deposits of rare occurrence in the See also:archipelago. By far the larger part of the See also:country is covered with natural See also:forest and See also:prairie See also:land, but such portions as have been brought into cultivation are highly fertile. See also:Coffee, See also:rice and a variety of fruits, such as the See also:lemon, See also:orange, See also:banana, See also:pine-See also:apple and coco-See also:nut are readily grown, as well as See also:sago, red-See also:pepper, See also:tobacco and See also:cotton.

The only important exports, however, are cajeput oil, a sudorific distilled from the leaves of the Melaleuca Cajuputi or See also:

white-See also:wood See also:tree; and See also:timber. The native See also:flora is See also:rich, and See also:teak, See also:ebony and canari trees are especially abundant; the See also:fauna, which is similarly varied, includes the See also:babirusa, which occurs in this island only of the See also:Moluccas. The See also:population is about 15,000. The villages on the See also:sea-coast are inhabited by a Malayan population, and the See also:northern and western portions of the island are occupied by a See also:light-coloured See also:Malay folk akin to the natives of the eastern See also:Celebes. In the interior is found a See also:peculiar See also:race which is held by some to be Papuan. They are described, however, as singularly un-Papuan in physique, being only 5 ft. 2 in. in See also:average height, of a yellow-See also:brown See also:colour, of feeble build, and without the characteristic frizzly See also:hair and prominent See also:nose of the true Papuan. They are completely See also:pagan, live in scattered hamlets, and have come very little in contact with any See also:civilization. Among the maritime population a small number of See also:Chinese, See also:Arabs and other races are also found. The island is divided by the Dutch into two districts. The chief See also:settlement is Kajeli on the east coast. A number of See also:Mahommedan natives here are descended from tribes compelled in 1657 to gather together from the different parts of the island, while all the clove-trees were exterminated in an See also:attempt by the Dutch to centralize the clove See also:trade.

Before the arrival of the Dutch the islanders were under the dominion of the See also:

sultan of See also:Ternate; and it was their See also:rebellion against him that gave the Europeans the opportunity of effecting their subjugation.

End of Article: BURU

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