MALAYAN ISLES. 



THOSE who confult the map of this portion of the 

 globe, will inftantly perceive the efFedt of the rapid dif- 

 charge of the waters after the deftrudion of the old 

 world by the deluge, aided by volcanic fury. Volcanoes, or vef- 

 tiges of volcanoes, are to be feen in moft parts to this day ; 

 amazing caverns, mountains piled upon mountains, with all the 

 teftimonies of the mighty confufion ; we know not the ante- 

 cedent form, but it was evidently fhattered by that great event. 

 From the top of the bay of Bengal to the very pole, it fwept 

 every thing before it, and left a vaft expanfe of ocean, uninter- 

 rupted by any land, except the diminutive fpots of Kergiielin 

 iflands, or the lefler fpeclc oi Ainjlerdain and St. Paulo. 



Fp>.om Cape Negrais, the fouthern point of Pegu^ the waters 

 feem to have been impelled towards the vaft Pacific Ocean, 

 The ifles of Andaman and Nicobar firft lliew that tendency in a 

 flight degree; all the peninfula oi Malacca was afFedied in a 

 higher. The ifland oi Sumatra follows the curvature of that 

 part of the continent. At Java it begins to fliew the fury of the 

 Vol. IV. B attraded 



