CHAP. I.] 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAFHT. 



9 



eastward in Timor-laut and the Islands, a moister 

 'cUtQate prevails, t]ie south-east winds hlowing from the 

 Pacific tlirough Torres ISfcraita and over the damp forests 

 of Kew Guinea, and as a consequence every rocky islet is 

 clothed with verdure to its very summit. Further west 

 again, as the same dry winds hlnw over a wider and 

 %vi^r extent of ocean, they have tinie to absorb fresh 

 moisture, and %V6 accordiugly iiud the island of Java 

 possessing a less and less arid climate, till in the extreme 

 west near Batavia rain occurs more or less all the year 

 round, and the mountains are everywhere clotlied with 

 forests of unexampled luxuriance. 



Contrasts in Depth of Sea, — It was first pointed out by 

 Mr. George Windsor Earl, in a paper read before the Eoyal 

 Geographical Society in 1845, and subsequently in a 

 pampMet On the Physical Geography of South-Easteru 

 Asia and Australia," dated 1855, that a shallow sea con- 

 nected the great islands of Sumatm, Java, and Borneo 

 with the Asiatic continent, with which their uatural pro- 

 ductions generally agreed ; while a similar shallow sea 

 connected New Guinea and some of the adjacent islands 

 to AustraUu, all being characterised by the presence of 

 marsupials. 



We have here a chie to the most radical coutiust in tlie 

 Archipelago, and by following it out in detail I have 

 arrived at the conclusion that we can dmw a line among 

 the islands, which shall so divide them that one-half shull 

 truly belong to Asia, while the other shall no less certainly 

 be allied to Australia. I term these respectively the 

 Itido-Malayan, and the Austro-Malayan ilivisions of the 

 Archipelago. {Sec Physical ^I^fh) — , 



On referring to pages 12, 13, and'-SC of Mv. Earla 

 pamphlet, it mU. be seen tijat he maintains the fornifr 

 connexion of Asia and Austraha as an important part of 

 his view, whereas I dwell mainly on their long coutiniu'd 

 separation. Notwithstanding this and other important 

 dilTerences between iis, to him undoubtedly belongs the 

 merit of first indicating the division of the Archipelago 

 into an Australian and an Asiatic region, which it has 

 been my good fortune to estabUsh by more detailed 

 observations. 



