CHAPTER XIV. 



THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TIMOE GROUP. 



TF we look at a map of the Archipelago, nothing seems 

 more unlikely than that the closely connect ed chain of 

 islands from Java to Timor should differ materially in their 

 natural productions. There are, it is true, certain differ- 

 ences of climate and of physical geography, but these do 

 not correspond with the division the naturalist is obliged to 

 make. Between the two ends of the chain there is a great 

 contrast of climate, the west being exceedingly moist and 

 having only a short and irregular dry season, the east being 

 as dry and parched up, and having but a short wet season. 

 This change, however, occurs about the middle of Java, the 

 eastern portion of that island having as strongly marked 

 seasons as Lombock and Timor. There is also a difference 

 in physical geography ; but this occurs at the eastern ter- 

 mination of the chain, where the volcanoes which are the 

 marked feature of Java, Bali, Lombock, Sumbawa, and 

 Flores, turn northwards through Gunong Api to Banda, 

 leaving Timor with only one volcanic peak near its centre ; 



