14 The Malay Archipelago. 



are commonly reckoned by weeks and months, and that their 

 several inhabitants are often as little known to each other as 

 are the native races of the northern to those of the southern 

 continent of America. He soon comes to look upon this re- 

 gion as one apart from the rest of the world, with its own 

 races of men and its own aspects of nature ; with its own ideas, 

 feelings, customs, and modes of speech, and with a climate, 

 vegetation, and animated life altogether peculiar to itself. 



From many points of view these islands form one compact 

 o-eographical whole, and as such they have always been treat- 

 ed by travellers and men of science ; but a more careful and 

 detailed study of them under various aspects reveals the un- 

 expected fact that they are divisible into two portions nearly 

 equal in extent, which widely differ in their natural products, 

 and really form parts of two of the primary divisions of the 

 earth. I have been able to prove this in considerable detail 

 by my observations on the natural history of the various parts 

 of the Archipelago ; and as in the description of my travels 

 and residence in the several islands I shall have to refer con- 

 tinually to this view, and adduce facts in support of it, I have 

 thought it advisable to commence with a general sketch of 

 such of the main features of the Malayan region as will ren- 

 der the facts hereafter brought forward more interesting, 

 and their bearing on the general question more easily under- 

 stood, I proceed, therefore, to sketch the limits and extent 

 of the Archipelago, and to point out the more striking feat- 

 ures of its geology, physical geography, vegetation, and ani- 

 mal life. 



Definition and Boundaries. — For reasons which depend 

 mainly on the distribution of animal life, I consider the Malay 

 Archipelago to include the Malay Peninsula as far as Tenas- 

 serim, and the Nicobar Islands on the west, the Philippines 

 on the north, and the Solomon Islands beyond New Guinea 

 on the east. All the great islands included within these limits 

 are connected together by innimierable smaller ones, so that 

 no one of them seems to be distinctly separated from the rest. 

 With but few exceptions, all enjoy a uniform and very similar 

 climate, and are covered with a luxuriant forest vegetation. 

 Whether we study their form and distribution on maps, or 

 actually travel from island to island, our first impression will 



