CHAPTER III. 



THE EASTEKN ARCHIPELAGO (INDONESIA). 

 General Survey. 



INDONESIA or lusulindia, tliat is, " Insular India," as the Dutch 

 have rightly named this region, is better known to English readers 

 as the Eastern, Asiatic, Malay, or East Indian Archipelago, and 

 sornetimes by the simpler and somewhat more convenient expression, 

 Malaysia. It constitutes, if not a political, certainly a well-defined 

 geographical area. The submarine bank on which stand the two great islands of 

 Java and Sumatra terminates abruptly towards the Indian Ocean in steej) escarp- 

 ments plunging into the very deepest abysses of the whole basin. Java is continued 

 eastwards by a chain of smaller islands extending to the north-east of Timor, and 

 evidently forming part of the same region ; the volcanoes traversing this long line 

 of islands attest the action of the same geological forces. South of Papuasia the 

 narrow igneous zone is deflected northwards, as if to mark the eastern limits 

 of Indonesia proper. One of the lines of volcanic forces traverses the island of 

 Halmahera {Jiio/o), while another touches the north-east extremity of Celebes, 

 thus enclosing this great island within the fiery semicircle sweeping round from 

 Sumatra. 



Borneo, largest of all the Sunda Islands, and of almost continental proportions, 

 is even more closely connected with the same group than Sumatra and Java, for it 

 stands entirel}^ on the same scarcely submerged marine plateau. The three great 

 islands are separated by shallow waters less than 50 fathoms deep, where vessels 

 can everywhere ride at anchor. Thus an upheaval of about 40 fathoms would 

 suffice to enlarge the Asiatic continent by an extent of nearly 1,500,000 square 

 miles. 



In many respects the Philippines might also be regarded as forming part of the 

 same natural region as Indonesia, for the semicircle of volcanoes is continued across 

 this archipelago, while its two chief members, Mindanao and Luzon, are both 

 attached to Borneo by chains of islands, islets, and shoals. But the Philippines 

 already belong to a different climate, and they are almost everywhere washed by 

 deep waters. The Sulu waters, flowing between Borneo and the Philippines, 

 present abysses of over 2,200 fathoms. 



