CHAPTER XVII 



BORNEO AND JAVA. 



Position and pLysical features of Borneo — Zoological features of Borneo : 

 Mammalia — Birds — The aflinities of the Bornean fauna — Java,, its 

 position and physical features — General character of the fauna of Java 

 ■ — DiflPerences between the fauna of Java and that of the other Malay 

 Islands — Special relations of the Javan fauna to that of the Asiatic 

 continent — Past geographical changes of Java and Borneo — The 

 Philippine Islands — Concluding remarks on the Malay Islands. 



As a representative of recent continental islands situated in 

 the tropics, we will take Borneo, since, although perhaps not 

 much more ancient than Great Britain, it presents a considerable 

 amount of speciality ; and, in its relations to the surrounding 

 islands and the Asiatic continent, offers us some problems of 

 great interest and considerable difficulty. 



The accompanying map shows that Borneo is situated on the 

 eastern side of a submarine bank of enormous extent, being 

 about 1,200 miles from north to south, and 1,500 from east to 

 west, and embracing Java, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. 

 This vast area is all included within the 100 fathom line, but by 

 far the larger part of it — from the Gulf of Siam to the Java 

 Sea — is under fifty fathoms, or about the same depth as the 

 sea that separates our own island from the continent. The 

 distance from Borneo to the southern extremity of the Malay 

 Peninsula is about 350 miles, and it is nearly as far from Sumatra 

 and Java, while it is more than 600 miles from the Siamase 

 Peninsula, opposite to which its long northern coast extends. 

 There is, I believe, nowhere else upon the globe, an island so far 



