134 NATURAL SCIENCE. Feb, 



volcano only being indicated near the western coast of Borneo, and 

 a few at the extreme north-eastern corner of Celebes, the belt running 

 through Sumatra, Java, Sumbawa, Flores, the Banda Archipelago, 

 the Moluccas, and the Philippines. A sketch of the Malay race and 

 language follows, in which the views of Professor Keane are intro- 

 duced and general observations on the characteristics of the people 

 given. Speaking of the religions of the Malays, Dr. Guillemard 

 says : " Some of them are Christians, that is to say, they attend the 

 services of the Dutch Church, abstain from shaving their heads or 

 filing their teeth, and drink wine and spirits." It is to be hoped, 

 however, that the Malay Christian has a better reputation than the 

 " Christian " of Africa. 



The picture of life in the Philippine Islands is by no means 

 pleasing ; after describing the beauty of the scenery, with its mountain 

 ranges and tropical vegetation, the author says, " the populous towns 

 and villages are decimated by frighful epidemics— smallpox and Asiatic 

 cholera, while erratic flights of locusts darkening the heavens like 

 dense clouds, devour the young crops, leaving hunger and famine in 

 their wake. With the changes of the monsoons the swollen streams 

 overflow the land ; and when the industrious Tagal fancies he has 

 escaped the devastating floods in his log hut or stone house, he is 

 suddenly buried by an earthquake beneath its ruins, stifled in a 

 burning rain of cinders from some new-born volcano, or hurried to a 

 still swifter death in the overwhelming waters of an earthquake-wave." 

 In a long chapter on the Flora and Fauna of these islands we read 

 that there are 52 peculiar species of ferns, and that the proportion of 

 monocotyledonous to dicotyledonous plants is more than one-half, a 

 peculiar condition in a tropical insular flora. Of animals, only twenty- 

 three terrestrial mammals are known and 303 species of land birds. 

 But as the restrictions to scientific investigation are removed by the 

 Government it is to be hoped that a better knowledge of all groups 

 will shortly be forthcoming. The python in the Philippine Islands is said 

 to reach 40 feet in length. Of the native races, the Negritos and the 

 Malays, Dr. Guillemard has much to say, and an excellent picture of 

 one of the former is given. Blumentrit estimates that there are 

 20,000 Negritos, and they live chiefly in Luzon, Mindoro, Negros, 

 Panayand Mindanao; of the Malayan stock, the two chief tribes are the 

 Tagal and the Bisayans, the former mustering some 1,500,000 souls, 

 and living in Luzon, Marinduque, and Mindoro, while the Bisayans 

 number 2,000,000 and occupy the islands between Luzon and 

 Mindanao, and some portions of Luzon. There are numerous other 

 races, but we must refer the reader to Dr. Guillemard's volume. After 

 some chapters on the religion, trade, government, population, etc., the 

 author treats the islands composing the group in separate sections, 

 and then passes on to consider the Dutch East Indies. 



Taking Java as a starting place, we are reminded that the Dutch 

 did not get a firm hold of the island until 1830, but since then its 

 development has been rapid and successful. A short but excellent 

 account of its volcanoes is given, there being no less than fifty volcanic 

 peaks on the island. The highest of these mountains reaches 

 12,044 &■> ten exceed 10,000, and ten 9,000, and of the fifty some 

 twenty-five are more or less active. Salak, Galunggung, Guntur, and 

 Papandayang are among the most destructive. The second of these, 

 in five hours, on October 8, 1822, destroyed nearly everything within 

 a radius of 20 miles with a deluge of hot water and mud, while 

 quantities of ejecta fell 40 miles away from the crater. The remark- 

 able antiquities connected with the Hindu religion still remaining 



