TtlK KASTKltN A tin [ I VV.l .AGO. 



113 



together ; three others, Celebes, Java, And Luzon, all m large as 

 Ireland ; another, Sunmtnu about equal Up Great Britain ; " eighteen 

 more on an nvemge as largo as Jamaica ; more than a hundred U 

 large as the Isle of Wight ; isles and islets of smaller pize innumer- 

 able." — Wtillnce* Including land and water, it covers a space far 

 larger thuti Europe, while the absolute extent of hind cannot Ins 

 estimated ut irniL'li less than 1,300,000 pqunre miles. Stretching from 

 the westernmost point of Sumatra across fifty-tax degrees of the 

 meridian (Ho - K. hoig.). eastward* in the i'urllu>( extremity of 

 New Guinea, ami From the north end of the Philippines aerotw nearly 

 thirty degrees of latitude (18* N. — 11* S.) southwards to Ruti, south 

 of Timor, it has a total length of about 40O0 mi]'.- from west to east, 

 and an extreme breadth of over 2000 fnuu north to .-oath. The 

 population, roti.*t*ting mainly <>f Indonesian, Malay, and Papuan 

 elements, and n Highly estimated at some 34,000,000, is most an- 

 equdly distributed, considerably more than liulf being concentrated 

 in the rich and highly cultivated Island of Java, while of the 

 remainder rather more than one halF un> centred in tlie northern 

 Philippine group. For the respective area* and population* of the 

 three great divisions — Ashit'u^or UW r r», OcnduV, or f.Wrfivr', and 

 Av*{™luin t or JEajoVm — the reader is referred to the Statistical 

 Tables. 



CHAPTER 1L 



CLISI ATE — laOHA — FA C S A, 



Climate— Intersected by the equator, about which most of the 

 land is disposed in nearly equal proportion* between 10' K and 10' 

 S. lal.,the Kimh-rti Archipehigo enjoys, like all equatorial regions, an 

 essentially tmpical eliiuiLU: <■ hor:n-l- r i- « I Uy great heal and moisture. 

 Owing to the generally high temperature of the surrounding waters, 

 mill the ri'gnlsir recurrence of tin- pi-ri-dji-al w.-t tiorlh-wvs: jnon^Km^, 

 these at araenta prevail man uniformly in this oceanic world than in 

 any other part of the globe. But the south-cast monsoon, which 

 • - - • i ii.-- From (In- nriil plains of Australia, and lusts fn.mi Murvh to 

 November, is necessarily of a somewhat dry character* Hence the 

 islands exposed to its influence, that is, the Leaser Sundaneae 



i 



