Note 108 — Chapter XII · THE SPREAD OF ISLAM IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.

In the island of Celebes we find a similar slow growth of the Muhammadan religion, taking its rise among the people of the coast and slowly making its way into the interior. Only the more civilised portion of the inhabitants has, however, adopted Islam; this is mainly divided into two tribes, the Macassars and the Bugis, who inhabit the south-west peninsula, the latter, however, also forming a large proportion of the coast population on the other peninsulas. The interior of the island, except in the south-west peninsula where nearly all the inhabitants are Muhammadan, is still heathen and is populated chiefly by the Alfurs, a race low in the scale of civilisation, who also form the majority of the inhabitants of the north, the east and the south-east peninsulas; at the extremity of the first of these peninsulas, in Minahassa, they have in large numbers been converted to Christianity; the Muhammadans did not make their way hither until after the Portuguese had gained a firm footing in this part of the island, and the Alfurs whom they converted to Roman Catholicism were turned into Protestants by the Dutch, whose missionaries have laboured in Minahassa with very considerable success. But Islam is slowly making its way among the heathen tribes of Alfurs in different parts of the island, both in the districts directly administered by the Dutch Government, and those under the rule of native chiefs.108