degree of north to the 11th of south latitude, and from the 95th to the 160th of east
longitude, thus embracing 31 degrees of latitude and 55 of longitude. The islets
to the north of Luzon are its northern, Timur its southern, Sumatra its western,
and New Guinea its eastern limit. I t is bounded to the north by the China Sea, to
the east and south by the Pacific, and to the west by the Indian Ocean and Bay of
Bengal. It forms by far the most extensivo Archipelago in the world, for it contains
three islands of the first magnitude, Borneo, Sumatra, and New Guinea; five if we
include a peninsula of the second, Celebes, Luson, Java, Mindano, and the Malay
Peninsula; fourteen of the third, Banca, Sumbawa, Bouton, Ploris, Timur, Ceram,
Gilolo, Panay, Mindoro, Negros, Cebu, Leyte, Samar, and Palawan; and ten of the
fourth, Billiton, Bali, Lomboc, Sumba, Boeroe, Timur-laut, Taliabo, Bohol, and
Masbate. Without reckoning other islands and islets, which some have computed
at no fewer than six thousand, these thirty-two alone have an area of at least 700,000
square geographical miles, or above seven times the extent of Britain and Ireland !
The equator passes through nearly the centre of the Archipelago, thus leaving
half of it in the northern and half in the southern hemisphere. By far the largest
part of it lies within ten degrees of the equator, and this decides the character of
the climate. The year throughout is one warm summer, the thermometer, at the
level of the sea, varying from 80° to 90°. The only distinction of seasons is into
dry and wet, about two-thirds of the year belonging to the first and one-third to the
last. The whole region is within the influence of the monsoons. To the north of
the equator, the wind blows half the year to the north-east, and the other half to
the south-west; while the monsoons of the southern hemisphere are the south-eastern
and north-western. All those parts of the Archipelago which are within 10° of the
equator are free from hurricanes, and they prevail in no part of it except the
northern portion of the Philippine group.
The geological formation of countries of such vast extent is, of course, very various.
I t may, however, be generally stated that a plutonic formation, consisting chiefly of
granite, sienite, and porphyries, with a sedimentary one of sandstones and lime,
characterise the countries north of the equator, and a volcanic, those to the south of
it. The plutonic and sedimentary formations are found in the peninsula of Malacca,
the greater part of Sumatra, all Borneo, the greater part of Celebes, and in all the
smaller islands near them. A volcanic band, the most extensive in the world, runs
west and east from about 100° to the 130° of east longitude; and then, taking a
northerly direction, it reaches up to the 20° of north latitude. This embraces a part
of Sumatra, the whole of Java, and the chain of islands east of it, as far as the islets
lying west of Timur,—most of the islands in the Molucca Sea, a small part of Celebes,
and much of the Philippines, from Mindanao to Luzon inclusive. The Archipelago may
be described as eminently a mountainous region, the highest peaks existing in the
volcanic band. In the volcanic portion of Sumatra, these rise to the height of 10,000
and 11,000 feet; while in the plutonic portion, they attain only from 5000 to 6000,
or, in a few instances, to between 10,000 and 11,000. In Java, they range from 8000
to 12000 feet high, and in Lomboc there is one which reaches to 12,500. The highest
mountain of the Malay peninsula reaches only to 4320 feet; of the plutonic portion
of Celebes/to 8000, and of Timur, 6000. Borneo, alone, has one plutonic mountain
which attains the height of 11,000 feet, the rest not exceeding 6000.
The volcanos of the Archipelago, in more or less activity, exclusive of mountains
with extinct craters, are very numerous. Sumatra has five; Java, fifteen; Bali,
Lomboc and Sumbawa, seven; the islands of the Molucca Sea probably not fewer
than te n ; Luzon, eight; and Mindanao, at least two.
The useful minerals of the Archipelago, so far as they have been ascertained and
used, are gold, iron, tin, antimony, coal, sulphur, and the diamond. Gold exists in
the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Borneo, Celebes, Mindano, and Luzon. Iron ore, in
sufficient abundance for use, does not exist in any part of the volcanic band; but
in all the secondary formations, and, perhaps, most abundantly in Borneo. Tin is
found in the Malay peninsula and several of the adjacent islands, extending from the
13° of north to, at least, the 3° of south latitude, constituting by far the most extensive
known formation of this metal. Ores of antimony have been discovered on the northwestern
coast of Borneo in two situations, and are worked to advantage in one. Fossil
coal has been found in many situations, as in parts of Sumatra, the Malayan peninsula
and its islands, in Java, and Luzon, but, as far as known, in the greatest abundance
and of the best quality in Borneo, where fields have been found and worked on the
north and south coasts, which very probably extend across the island. Sulphur is
found about the craters of all the volcanos; but is said to be most abundant in
those of Mindano, and Leyte in the Philippines. The diamond appears to be
confined to the western and south-western sides of Borneo.
In fertility of soil, it should be added, that the volcanic formation far excels the
plutonic and sedimentary formations. Within it are to be found the majority of the
population, and the people most advanced in civilisation, of which the most remarkable
examples are the volcanic portion of Sumatra, Java, and the two islands
immediately to the east of the latter, with the larger islands of the Philippine group.
To elicit this fertility, nothing is wanting but an abundant perennial supply of water,
and it is thus furnished in the islands now quoted.
As to the vegetable kingdom, as a general rule, the land from the searshore to the
mountain-tops, is covered with an ever-verdant primeval forest of tall trees • naked
rocks, brush-wood, grassy savannahs, and cultivated plains being, in most of the
islands, the exceptions. The vegetation is of great variety, varying not only with the
elevation of the land, but being often different even in islands in the same parallels.
Thus the teak tree (Tectona grandis) is confined to some districts of Java, Sumbawa
and Mindano. The clove and nutmeg are confined to a few islands in the Molucca
Sea ; while the durian (Dwrio zibeihmus) and mangostin, the most prized fruits of the
western portion of the Archipelago, do not exist in the Moluccas, nor in any of the
Philippines, except Mindano, the most southerly of them.
The zoology of the Archipelago is still more restricted to localities than its botany.
The royal tiger is confined to the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, and Java. The only feline
animal of considerable size in Borneo is a small leopard {Felix macrocelis). In Celebes,
there is no feline animal at all, as far as it has been explored. In the Molucca Islands
feline animals are equally wanting ; and in the whole range of the Philippine group there
is but one carnivorous animal, the musang of the Malays, or Paradoxurus rrmsanga of
naturalists, a large weazel, a fact which goes far to account for the extent to which the ox
the buffalo, the horse, and goat—all imported,—have multiplied and run wild. Of thé
canine family, there is but a single representative throughout the Archipelago and it
is confined to Sumatra and Java; the hyena, the wolf, jackal, fox, and common dog
having no existence ; the latter in the domestic state excepted. The elephant and
tapir are confined to Sumatra and the Malay peninsula. Elephants, indeed, are found
in a remote nook of Borneo ; but, most probably, the wild descendants of those kept
by the princes of Brunai, who are ascertained to have done so, when the island
was first visited by Europeans. The rhinoceros exists only in the Malay peninsula
Sumatra, and Java. In Sumatra there are two species of it; and in Java, one, which
is distinct from those of Sumatra. A wild ox {Bos sondaicus) exists in Java, Borneo
and the Malay peninsula ; but not in Sumatra or any other island of the Archipelago’
In the peninsula, however, there is another species, which has not yet been described
Sumatra is the only island of the Archipelago that has an antelope (the Antilope Svma-
trerms), or wild goat of the Malays. In Celebes, and there only, there is a quadruped partaking
of the characters of the ox and antelope, the Antilope dipressicornis of naturalists.
There is but one bear in the Archipelago, an animal of small size, Urms Malayanus’
and it is confined to the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, aud Borneo. The tribe of
monkeys is numerous and various in the western islands of the Archipelago • the
species, however, frequently differing in the different islands, but they are wholly
absent in the islands of the Molucca Sea, while they appear again in the Philippines.
The wild hog alone is widely diffused throughout the Archipelago, from Sumatra to
the Philippines inclusive. But even in this case, the species will probably be found
to be different. There are two distinct species of the family in Java, one in Sumatra
and one in Borneo; and in Celebes and some of the islands of the Molucca Sea besides
one resembling the common hog, that singular animal the Babirusa, which in Malay
signifies literally “ hog-deer.” Marsupial quadrupeds, unknown in the western
islands of the Archipelago and in the Philippines, are first time seen in Celebes and
irom thence exist in several islands as far as New Guinea, in which there is an
opossum and a tree-kangaroo.
Birds, with the exception of those that are migratory, are nearly as limited in their
geographical distribution as quadrupeds. Thus, for example, the birds of Java and
ot bumatra, parted by a strait not exceeding fifteen miles broad, and with islands like
steppmg-stones in the channel, differ with few exceptions, and even when the species
are the same, it is found that those of Sumatra have more brilliant plumage and are
P e ^ o cW e nnl f18 ' T™ ?f Temminck, the greatest living ornithologist,
hi the two fast I ,fT d+r Archipelago, in the Peninsula, Sumatra, and Java; but
tlL ’• ï ea the one common to them with Java, which itself differs from
he Indian species domesticated in Europe, there exists a small and beautiful double