First Group.—Ternati, Tidor, Mortay (or Morintay), Gilolo.
Second Group.—Banda, and other small islands.
Third Group.—Amboyna, Ceram, Buru, Saparua, &c.
The inhabitants of these groups, or clusters, fall under the three heads which we are now prepared to expect.
1. Mahometan Malays.—The influence of the Mahometan Malays had organized rajahships in the Moluccas anterior to their discovery, A.D. 1521. Of these, the most important was that of Ternati; the territory of which extends over Tidor, Gilolo, Mortay, and part of Celebes.
2. A population of the character of the Bugis, i.e. the population of the Archipelago, as developed by the influence of the sea-coast and the commerce that it evolved.
3. A population of the interior of the Dyak(?) type.—Respecting these last I have not the definite information I could wish for. Small as are some of the islands—Amboyna and Tidor—tribes inferior and subordinate to the natives of the coasts and town, have been ascribed to the interior. Forrest states that these are Papua. This they are likely enough to be. Still it would not be surprising if they were light-coloured, and of the Dyak type.
Since the publication of Sir Stamford Raffles' tabulated vocabularies for these parts, I have looked in vain for any vocabulary representing a language other than the Malay. The Guebé vocabulary of Durville is Malay, and the Amboyna and Ceram vocabularies of Roorda van Eysingen are Malay.
The European influences have been Portuguese in the first instance. Afterwards and, at present, Dutch. Chinese settlements also are numerous.