OF CELEBES, 



283 



certainly adils considerably to the strauj^e character of 

 this remarkable i'ilaiid. 



The anomalies aud eccentricities m the natural history 

 of Celebes which 1 have eudeavoured to sketch in this 

 chapter, all point to an origin in a remote antiquity. The 

 history of extinct animak teaches nSj that their distribu- 

 tion in time and in space are strikingly similar. The rnie 

 is, that just aia the pi-oductions ol' adjacent areas usually 

 resemble each other closely, so do the productions of 

 successive periods in the same area ; and as the produc- 

 tions of remote areas generally differ widely, so do the 

 productions of the same ai-ea at remote epochs. We are 

 therehire led irresistibly to the conclusion, that chauge of 

 species, still more of generic and of family form, is a 

 matter of time. But time may have led to a change of 

 species in oue country, while in another the forms have 

 been more permanent, or the change may have gone on at 

 an equal rate but in a dilferent manner in both. In 

 either case the amount of individuality in the productions 

 of a district, will be to some extent a measure of the time 

 that district hits been isolated from those that surround it. 

 Judged by this standard, Celebes must be one of the oldest 

 parts of the Archipelago. It probably dates from a period 

 not only anterior to tliat when Borneo, Java, and Sumatm 

 were separated from the continent, but from that still 

 more remote epoch when the land that now constitutes 

 these islands had not risen above the ocean. Such an 

 antiquity is necessary, to account for the number of 

 animal forms it possesses, which show no relation to those 

 of India or Australiti, but rather with those of Africa ; and 

 we are led to speculate on the possibility of there haying 

 once existed a continent in the Indian Ocean which might 

 serve as a bridge to connect these distant countries. Now 

 it is a curious fact, that the existence of such a land hasi 

 been already thought necessary, to accoimt for the distri- 

 bution of the curious Quadrumana forming the family ot 

 the Lt^murs. These have tlieir metropolis in Madagascar, 

 but are found also in Africa, in Ceylon, in the penin- 

 sula of India, and in the Malay Archipchigo as far as 

 Celebes, which is its furthest eastern limit. l>r. Sclater 

 has proposed for the hypothetical continent connecting 

 these distant points, and whose forLuer existence is 



