32 ASIA 



almost exclusive occupation of the Chinese, other indus- 

 tries being subsidiary to it and ranking far behind it 

 in importance. No nation has made more of, and so 

 thoroughly appropriated, the soil : nowhere has rural 

 life and organization been stronger : in a way, the chief 

 of the state is but a glorified peasant. In no large 

 natural region can the influence of agriculture, and 

 through it, of the geographic environment, on the mode 

 of life, institutions, organization, morals, religion, arts, 

 and poetry, be traced so clearly as in China. 



Malay Archipelago. By their situation within the 

 equatorial belt, the islands of south-eastern Asia: 

 Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Celebes, and the Philippines, 

 to which may be added the Malay Peninsula : enjoy an 

 equable equatorial climate, with an abundant rainfall 

 distributed regularly throughout the year. We may. 

 therefore, expect to find here all the profusion of tropical 

 nature. The equatorial selva is indeed the rule here. 

 Only minor climatic variations, along with the nature of 

 the relief and soil, determine departures from this highest 

 and heaviest type of vegetation. All these islands 

 possess a skeleton of mountains, either in long barrier- 

 ranges, as in Sumatra and Java, or in centres from 

 which chains radiate, as in Borneo. In Sumatra and 

 Java, those ranges are high and continuous enough 

 to drain the bulk of the southern monsoon, and thus 

 render the northern slopes comparatively dry. West 

 Java is also moist er than the eastern portion of the 

 island, and consequently the alternation of dry and wet 

 periods tells more on Jhe vegetation. This contrast can 

 be traced throughout the different belts of altitude 

 from the sea-shore to the tops of the mountain screens, 

 Thus, in the west and south, the lower slopes are clad 

 with a heavy growth of luxuriant selva : in the east 



