176 The Malay Archijielago. L-^pril> 



islands must at some time have been connected together; and, 

 although he does not believe that Timor was actually connected 

 with Australia in recent geological epochs, he considers that they 

 were in much closer proximity than at present. 



The human inhabitants of the Polynesian Archipelago, the 

 author thinks, did not penetrate so far east as Lombok, and he 

 draws the line between the Malayan and Polynesian races through 

 the Sapy strait between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores, and 

 northward through the Moluccas. This line of demarcation is 

 shown upon another of the numerous maps which accompany the 

 work. 



To treat the subject with anything like particularity in this 

 place would, however, be impossible, and for a full exposition of 

 the author's views and theories we must refer our readers to the 

 work itself, where they will find page after page of evidence to 

 support them.* 



And now what shall we say of the book, as the production of a 

 natm'alist and traveller ? We think few will disagree with us when 

 we pronounce it to be one of the most attractive and, at the same 

 time, the most learned work on foreign travel, " with studies of man 

 and nature," that has appeared in our language. It surpasses in 

 scientific interest Mr. Darwin's Naturahst's A^oyage in the ' Beagle ' 

 (and that is saying a great deal), because its author has been a 

 more industrious observer and collector, and has been able to render 

 it more attractive by the employment of modern methods of illus- 

 tration ; for these latter carry us into the heart of the remote and 

 little-known regions which he visited, and enable us to form a 

 good idea of their varied inhabitants of all kinds. f His collection 

 "comprised nearly 3000 birds' skins of about 1000 species, and 

 at least 20,000 beetles and butterflies of about 7000 species, besides 

 some quadrupeds and land shells." | 



* The following is an extract from the 'Proceedings of the Koval Society,' 

 No. cvi., Nov., 18G8 :— " A Eoyal Medal has been awarded to Mr. Alfred Russell 

 Wallace, in recognition of the value of his many contributions to theoretical and 

 practical zoology, among which his discussion of the conditions which have 

 determined the distribution of aniniiils in tlu^ Malay Archipelago (in a paper on 

 the zoological geography of that region, published in the ' Proceedings of the 

 Linnean >Sf)ciety' for 1859) occupies a prominent place. 



" 'I'hc case may be briefly stuti'<l thus : — The strait separating the islands of 

 Baly and Lombok is only 15 miles wide ; nevertheless the animal iniiabitants of the 

 islands are widely different, the fauna of the western island being substantially 

 Indian, that of tlie eastern as distinctly Australian. 



" Mr. Wallace has described, in a far more definite and complete manner than 

 any previous observer, the ])hysical and biological cliaracters of the two regions 

 whicii come into contact in tii(> Malay Archi])elago; he has given an exceidingly 

 ing( nifnis and jirobable solution of tiie dillicullies of llic j)r()l)liin, while his 

 method of discussing it may serve as a model to future workers in the same field." 



t lu the second vignette, our artist has copied a jjortion of one of Mr. Wallace's 

 plates, exhibiting the mode in which the natives shoot the Great Bird of I'aradise. 



X Wallace : Preface. 



