4 COMPENDIUM OF GKOGEAPHY AND TRAVEL 



circumference of the globe, and about 1000 miles longer 

 than the greatest extent of Europe and Asia from Lisbon 

 to Singapore. In a north and south direction it is less 

 extensive; yet, from the Sandwich Islands in 22° IST. to 

 Stewart Island, New Zealand, in 47° S., is a meridian 

 distance of 69 degrees, or as much as the width of the 

 great northern continent from the Xorth Cape to Ceylon. 

 From the usual custom of representing the Eastern 

 Archipelago within the limits of a single map, its vast 

 size and extent are generally lost sight of. 



3. Geographical and Physical Features. 



Within the limits above described are some of the 

 most interesting countries of the world. Beginning at 

 the west, w^e have the Malay Archipelago, comprising the 

 largest islands on the globe, and unsurpassed for the 

 luxuriance of its vegetation as well as for the variety 

 and beauty of its forms of animal life. Farther to the 

 east lie the countless islands of the Pacific, remarkable 

 for their numbers and their beauty, and interesting from 

 their association with the names of many of our greatest 

 navigators. To the south is Australia, unique in its 

 physical features ; and still farther in the Southern 

 Ocean lies New Zealand, almost the antipodes of Great 

 Britain, but possessing a milder climate and a more 

 varied surface. 



Being thus almost wholly comprised between the 

 northern tropic and the 40th degree of south latitude, 

 this division of the globe possesses as tropical a character 

 as Africa, while, owing to its being so completely oceanic 

 and extending over so vast an area, it presents diversities 

 of physical features and of organic life not to be found 



