CHAPTEE XII. 



THE ORIENTAL REGION. 



This region is of comparatively small extent, but it has a very 

 diversified surface, and is proportionately very rich. The de- 

 serts on the north-west of India are the debatable land that 

 separates it from the Palsearctic and Ethiopian regions. The 

 great triangular plateau which forms the peninsula of India is 

 the poorest portion of the region, owing in part to its arid climate 

 and in part to its isolated position ; for there can be little doubt 

 that in the later Tertiary period it was an island, separated by an 

 arm of the sea (now forming the valleys of the Ganges and 

 Indus) from the luxuriant Himalayan and Burmese countries. 

 Its southern extremity, with Ceylon, has a moister climate and 

 more luxuriant vegetation, and exhibits indications of a former 

 extension southwards, with a richer and more peculiar fauna, 

 partly Malayan and partly Mascarene in its character. The 

 whole southern slopes of the Himalayas, with Burmah, Siam and 

 Western China, as well as the Malay peninsula and the Indo- 

 Malay islands, are almost everywhere covered with tropical 

 forests of the most luxuriant character, which abound in varied 

 and peculiar forms of vegetable and animal life. The flora and 

 fauna of this extensive district are essentially of one type 

 throughout; yet it may be usefully divided into the Indo- 

 Chinese and the Malayan sub-regions, as each possesses a 

 number of peculiar or characteristic animals. The former sub- 

 region, besides having many tropical and sub-tropical types 

 of its own, also possesses a large number of peculiarly modi- 

 fied temperate forms on the mountain ranges of its northern 



