THE 



MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. 



CHAPTER I. 

 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



IF we look at a globe or a map of the Eastern henii- 

 spUerej we shall perceive between Asia and Australia 

 a number of krge and small islands, forming a connected 

 group distinct from those great masses of land, and having 

 little connexion with either of them. Situated upon the 

 Equator, and bathed by the tepid water of the great tropical 

 oceans, this region enjoys a climate more uniformly hot and 

 moist than almost any other part of the globe, and teems 

 with natural productions wliich are elsewhere unknown, 

 rim richest of fruits and the most precious of sphses are 

 uere indigenous. It produces the giant flowers of the 

 EaMesia, the great green-winged Ornithoptera (princes 

 among the butterfly tribes), the man-like Orang-Utan, and 

 the goi^eous Birds of Pai-adise. It is inhabited by a 

 peculiar and interesting race of mankind — the Malay, 

 found nowhere beyond the limits of this insidar tract, 

 which has hence l>een named the Malay Archipelago. 



To the ordinary Englishman this is perhaps the least 

 known part of the globe. Our posse-ssions in it are few 

 and scanty ; scarcely any of our travellers go to explore it ; 

 and in many colleotious of maps it is almost ignored, 

 being divided between Asia and the Pacific Islands. It 

 thus happens that few persons realize that, as a whole, it 

 is comparable with the primaiy divisions of the globe, and 



h; 



