138 NATURAL BISTOJtr OF THE [€UAP. ix. 



CHAPl^EE IX 



KATURAL HISTOEY OF THE IND0-JL4JAY ISLAKUS. 



IN the first chapter of this work I have stated generally 

 the reasons which lead us to conchide that the hivga 

 islands in the western poitioii of the Archipelago — Java, 

 Sumatra, and Borneo — as well as the Malay peninsula and 

 t!ie Philippine islands, have heen recently separated from 

 the continent of Asia. 1 now propose to give a sketch ol 

 the Natural History of these, which I term the Indo-3tIahiy 

 islands, and to show how far it supports this view, and 

 how much information it is able to give us of the antiquity 

 and origiti of the separate islands. 



The flora of the Arehipela*j;o is at present so imperfectly 

 known, and I have myself ]>aid so little attention to it, 

 that I cannot draw from it many facts of importance. The 

 Malayan type of vegetation is however a very important 

 one; antl l>r, Hooki^r informs us, in his "Flora Indica," 

 that it spreads over all tlio nioister and more equahlc paits 

 oi India, and that many plants found in Ceylon, the Hima- 

 layas, the Kilghiri, and Khasia mountains are identicid with 

 those of Java and the Mahiy peninsula. Among the more 

 characteristic forms of this flora are the rattans — cUmhing 

 palms of the genus Calamns, aud a great variety of tall, 

 as well as stemless palms. Orchids, Aiticem, Zingiberacese, 

 and ferns are especially ahnndaut, and the genus Gramma- 

 tophyllum— a gigantic epiphytal orchid, whose clustei's of 

 leaves and flower-steius are ten or twelve feet long — is 

 peculiar to it. Here, too, is the domain of the wonderful 

 pitcher plants (Nepenthacete), which are oidy represented 

 elsewhere by solitary species in Ceylon, Madagascar, the 

 Seychelles, Celebes, and tlie Moluccaa Those celebmted 

 fruits, the ISlangosteen and the Durian, are natives of this 

 region, and will hardly grow out of the Archipelago, The 

 mountain plants of Java have already been alluded to as 

 ohowing a former connexion with the continent of Asia; 

 and a still more extraordinary and more ancient connexion 



