OCR Text |
Show BRITAIN SEEKS ISLE OF TIMOR? Needed as Link in World Air Route. The British government Is reported report-ed by a news dispatch from London to be Interested in Timor island of the East Indies as a possible sea and air base. An offer of $20,000,000 to 500,000,000 may be made for the Island, Is-land, It Js declared. The eastern part of Timor and a tiny nick of the western west-ern part now belongs to Portugal, and the remainder to The Netherlands. Nether-lands. "Timor Is the eastern 'jumping-off place' of the Sunda islands, that chain of land spoLs which is strung out from Sumatra eastward toward the north coast of Australia," says a bulletin from the Washington (D. C.) headquarters of the National Geographic Geo-graphic society. "It is about 300 miles from the Timor coast to Australia. Aus-tralia. Timor is thus a vital link In the Europe-Australia air route. "Although Timor had a Portuguese settlement on its coast more than a century before Capt. John Smith with his band of English colonists disembarked at Jamestown ; and although al-though the Dutch landed or the Island Is-land about the time of the Capt. John Smith Pocahontas life-saving episode In Virginia, Timor shows little lit-tle effect of Its contact with the western world. "About 300 miles long and averaging averag-ing 60 miles In width, the island has but few settlements that even can be called township. Even Koepang, capita and largest port on the Dutch or western end of the island, has only 5,500 inhabitants; and Dili, which is the chief town In the eastern, east-ern, or Portuguese portion of the Island, Is-land, can account for only 8,500 permanent per-manent residents. "There are no railroads on Timor and one of the best roads of any great length Is a horse trail that traverses the Island. No cable links It with other islands. Steamships that touch other East Indian Islands stop at Timor ports to deliver cotton goods, oil and wine, and to take away coffee, copra, hides, cacao, shells, was and sandalwood which are the leading exports. And now and land's 800,000 Inhabitants largely a racial mixture of Malayan, Polynesian, Polyne-sian, and Papuan blood. "The natives are divided Into many tribes, ruled by chiefs whose Jealousy of neighboring leaders, and land-grabbing habits, frequently have caused bloody clashes. Bows and arrows and spears are the war weapons of the natives. For hunting game, they use blow guns and small darts. "While the loin cloth still constitutes consti-tutes the entire wardrobe of the men of some of the tribes, other tribesmen tribes-men wear two-piece cotton garments and turbans. The women don colorful color-ful sarongs and shawls. From the appearance of exposed arms and other oth-er portions of the natives' bodies, tt Is evident that tattoo artists are kept busy in Timor. The tattooing Is done with crude instruments and dyes which sometimes cause blood poisoning poison-ing and death. "There appear to be no limits, other oth-er than wealth and Inclination, to the number of wives a tribesman may have. The native home Is a round, one-room, wooden structure with t roof of grass or palm-leaf thatch, and not too clean Inside or out. To appease ap-pease the angry gods and to avoid destruction by evil spirts, the tribesmen tribes-men place palm branches before fruit trees, houses and growing crops. Agriculture Ag-riculture Is carried on with crude, primitive Implements; and, although there are many streams on the Island, Is-land, irrigation Is hardly known. During the dry season vegetation bows to the torrid sun even to the extent of the trees losing their leaves. "If the reported purchase Is consummated con-summated it will not be Great Britain's Brit-ain's first possession of Timor. In 1797 the British attempted to drive out the Dutch, then domlnantly In control of the island. At first they failed. Later the British succeeded, and the Dutch flag was lowered. Portuguese Influence then swept the island until 1814, when, by treaty, the Dutch resumed their old status. "Today the Dutch portion of Timor Is about 5,000 square miles with SGO.OOO Inhabitants. The Portuguese Por-tuguese portion is 7,335 square miles with about 442,000 people. Both portions por-tions are mountainous. Many peaks are more than 0,000 feet high. Mount Eameau, near the center of the Island, Is-land, rises 9,600 feet." then an occasional visitor off the beaten tourist path walks down a steamship gangplank bent upon roaming roam-ing over the mountains and through valleys where live most of the Is- |