— vi — 
into special chapters of Physical, Commercial, Political, and 
General Geography. 
It is hoped that, for educational purposes, an Eastern Geo- 
graphy, which has at any rate had the advantage of being 
compiled and edited in the East, may be of some use, even 
beyond the limits of this Colony. The position of Singapore 
is that of a city at the centre of a circle, which, having 
a radius of 3,000 miles, and embracing but one-fifth of the 
world^s surface, yet, it is believed, contains more than half the 
population upon our globe; and an amount of commerce 
which is, at least, in proportion to its population : for Her 
Majesty's Possessions within this range have in themselves a 
sea-going trade of 251 millions Sterling, against 86 millions 
in the rest of the British Dependencies throughout the world. 
The want of some such School-book as is here attempted 
is made clear in the fullest and latest of Geographical Text 
Books (Keith Johnston's Physical Geography " of 1880, 
London Series, 463 pages), in which the Peninsula is referred 
,to in a single paragraph, while only 7 pages are devoted to 
all Malaya, and only 45 pages to the whole of the vast 
and important countries of the East. 
In the other Geography-book of special importance for 
these parts — W.^LLACE's " Australasia/' iS^g—Maiaya is 
treated of more fully, but the Peninsula is not referred to at all. 
The entire scheme of such a Work as has been sketched 
out above falls naturally into nine Sections, as follows : — 
Malaya, i\e., the countries comprised within a circle round 
Singapore of about 1,500 miles radius, treated in 
five Sections, 
Oihet Eastern Coan tries, within a wider circle of about 3,000 
