13 fEE MALAi' ARCHIPELAGO. [chap. j. 



In the Malay Archipelago we have, I believe, a cnse 

 exactly parallel to that which I have here supposed. We 

 have intlieations of a vast continent, with a pecnlinr fauna 

 and flora, having been gradually aud irre^ailarly hruken 

 up ; the island of Celebes probably marking its furthest 

 westward extension, beyond ^\'hieh was a wide ocean. At 

 the same time A.sia appears to have been extending its 

 limits in a sonth-east direction, tii*st iu an unbroken mass, 

 then separated into islands as we now see it, and almost 

 coming into actud contact witli the scattered fragments cf 

 the great southern land. 



From this outline of the subject, it will be evident how 

 important an adjunct Natural Ilistory is to Geology ; not 

 only in interpreting the fragments of extinct animals 

 found in the earth's crust, but in determining past changes 

 in the surface which have left no geological record. It is 

 certainly a wonderful and unexpected fact, that an accurate 

 knowledge of the distribution of birds and insects should 

 enable us to map out lands and continents which dis- 

 appeared beneath the ocean long before the earliest tra- 

 ditions of the bnnmn race. Wherever the geologist can 

 explore the earth's surface, ho can read much of its past 

 history, and can determine approximately its latest move- 

 ments above aud below tin? sea-levtil ; but wherever oceans 

 and seas now extend, he can do nothing but speculate or 

 the ver}^ limited data afibrdetl by the depth of the waters 

 Here the naturalist steps in, and (Miables him to fill up this 

 great gap in tlie past history of the earth. 



One of the chief objects of my ti-avels was to obtain 

 evidence of this imture ; and my search after such evidence 

 has been rewarded by gi-eat success, so that I have been 

 enabled to trace out with some probability the past 

 changes wldch one of the most interesting parts of the 

 earth has uudergone. It may be thought that the facts and 

 generalizations here given, would have been more appro- 

 priately placed at the end rather than at the beginning 

 of a niinalive of the travtds which supplied the facts. In 

 some cases this might bc( so, but I have found it impos- 

 sible to give such an account as I desire of the natural 

 history of the numerous islands and groups of islands in 

 the Archipelago, without constant reference to these geue- 



