J8 Life of Sir Stamford Raffles. 



vegetation, is peopled, especially Java, by an agricultural race 5 

 ^nd has been celebrated, from time immemorial, for the high degree 

 of cultivation which its plains have received. From the situation, 

 however, of nearly all the islands, within ten degrees of the line, 

 one constant summer prevails throughout the Archipelago : the 

 evergreen islands rise in endless clusters from the smooth seas that 

 flow around them : innumerable flowers bloom in perpetual suc- 

 cession throughout the year, impregnating the air ^ith their 

 fragrance ; whilst the variety and abundance of indigenous fruits 

 and spices is so great, as to have obtained, for the entire insular 

 assemblage, the emphatic apellation of " The Garden of the 

 World." Nor are the productions of animated nature less abun- 

 dant, or less various and beautiful ; possessing the more useful and 

 more curious animals of continental India, the Asiatic Isles are 

 distinguished by many animals, of every class, peculiar to them- 

 selves, as we shall hereafter be called upon to particularize. 



The political or rather national history of the Indian Archipelago, 

 Jias claims to interest commensurate with those enjoyed by its na- 

 tural peculiarities and advantages. Presenting all that is majestic 

 and lovely in nature, it appears to have been peopled, at a remote 

 period, with inhabitants professing the Hindu faith in its more 

 simple and more elevated form. The maritime districts in some of 

 the islands, were, in after times, colonized by the enterprising 

 Arabs, who founded the Malayan empire properly so called. Before 

 the prowess of these Mohammedans, the former inhabitants, great- 

 ly diminished in numbers, withdrew into the interior fastnesses of 

 the country ; or in many instances gradually lost all traces of their 

 ancient greatness, and all remembrance of their pristine religion 5 

 leaving their magnificent temples, many of them equalling in 

 architectural splendour those of Hindustan itself, to the destruc- 

 tive influence of the elements, and of the luxuriant vegetation, 

 ivhich, in these climates, so quickly overspreads and dilapidates 

 every neglected edifice. 



The Malays, properly so called, inhabit the Peninsula of 

 Malacca, with the coasts and maritime districts of the islands 

 lying between the Phillipines and the Southern Ocean, which 

 are bounded in longitude by the western coasts of Sumatra 



i 



