Note 581 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO

Timur is wrongly classed with the chain of islands called the Sunda, being different in location, structure, fauna, and botany. It is mountainous and rather desolate. Its inhabitants are Malayans and Negritos, and two languages are spoken there—Timourese in the west, and Teto or Manatoto in the east. The religion is a sort of demonology. An annual sacrifice of a virgin to the sharks and alligators was made until recent times, when the practice was abolished by the Dutch. It is about 370 miles long by 50 broad in its widest part and contains about 9,808 square geographical miles. The island belongs to the Dutch and Portuguese. See Crawfurd’s Dictionary, pp. 432–435, and Cust’s Modern Languages of the East Indies (London, 1878), p. 143.