chap, i.] PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 3 



been treated by travellers and men of science ; but a more 

 careful and detailed study of them under various aspects, 

 reveals the unexpected fact that they are divisible into 

 two portions nearly equal in extent, which widely differ 

 in their natural products, and really form parts of two 

 of the primary divisions of the earth. I have been able 

 to prove this in considerable detail by my observations on 

 the natural history of the various parts of the Archipelago; 

 and as in the description of my travels and residence in 

 the several islands I shall have to refer continually to this 

 view, and adduce facts in support of it, I have thought it 

 advisable to commence with a general sketch of such of 

 the main features of the Malayan region as will render 

 the facts hereafter brought forward more interesting, and 

 their bearing on the general question more easily under- 

 stood. I proceed, therefore, to sketch the limits and 

 extent of the Archipelago, and to point out the more 

 striking features of its geology, physical geography, 

 vegetation, and animal life. 



Definition and Boundaries. — For reasons which depend 

 mainly on the distribution of animal life, I consider the 

 Malay Archipelago to include the Malay Peninsula as far 

 as Tenasserim, and the Nicobar Islands on the west, the 

 Philippines on the north, and the Solomon Islands beyond 

 New Guinea, on the east. All the great islands included 

 within these limits are connected together by innumerable 



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