14 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL 



to an abrupt termination at the little island of Bali, east 

 of Java, there being a channel of great depth, though very 

 narrow, between it and the adjacent island of Lombok. 

 The same deep channel is continued northwards through 

 the Straits of Macassar to the Celebes Sea, where it 

 divides, one arm passing between the islands of Mindanao 

 and northern Celebes into the Pacific Ocean, and the other 

 north-westward, between Sibutu and Tawi-tawi islands 

 into the Sulu Sea. Hence one-half only of what is some- 

 times called the East Indian Archipelago, and included 

 in Asia, is really connected with that continent. The 

 eastern half is essentially Australian, not only as regards 

 the history of its origin, but also in its fauna and 

 flora. Even ethnically this extensive insular system 

 belongs to two clearly distinct peoples — the Malay and 

 the Papuan — so that the current expression " Malay 

 Archipelago," here adopted, is deficient in thorough 

 accuracy. The line dividing the two races lies, however, 

 considerably to the east of that which separates the two 

 zoological regions, the Malays extending to Celebes, Sum- 

 bawa, and most of the islands of the Moluccas. 



But, while conforming to the hitherto received custom 

 of arbitrarily including under one appellation the whole 

 of the archipelago as far as the Moluccas and Timor, we 

 may still recognise it to be composed of several distinct 

 groups. These groups are — in the north the Philippines, 

 followed to the south by the Moluccas, and by the very 

 remarkable and zoologically distinct island, Celebes. 

 Finally, to the south and to the west are the Lesser and 

 the Greater Sunda Archipelagoes, by the latter of which 

 are understood the three large islands of Sumatra, Java, 

 and Borneo. 



All these groups — of which Sumatra, Java, and Borneo 

 belonged in recent geological times to the Asiatic continent 



