extend-this appellation to GUqIq, Myfol, Ceram, Amboyna and -Banda.*
The remaining ifles in the S. E. belong to Papua in Auftralafia.
Thefe five'divifions, i. the Sumatran iflcsV or thdfe of Sunda: 2. Borneo,
and the Bornean ifles : 3. the Philippines: 4. the Celebezian ifles:
and 5. the Moluccas, or Spice Ifla-rids, ’are not only indicated by the
hand of nature, but feem fufficient for a .defcription of this v-aft archipelago.
1. T h e I s l e s o f S u n d a , o r t h e S u m a t r a n C h a i n ! '
This diviflop, as -already explained, comprifes Sumatra, Java, Ball!,
Lombok, Sumbava, Florez, and Timor; with feveral ifles of lefs” note in
the vicinity of tht?fe. ;r
S uma tra . Sumatra is an ifland rof great extent,- being not lefs than 950 B.
miles in length, by about. 200 in breadth j. for oaio- yaft! a Xcale are, the
regions connected with Afia, that Great Britain, if fituatecj in the- ^oriental
archipelago, would onlyjn fize rival Sumatra and Borneo," T h e
EnglilF fettlement of Béncoolen' in the JS /lv jjart olfthis ifland,has
occafioned particular attention to its nature and pfodudtións, éfpeciaïly
fince Mr. Marfden publifhed an ample and intelligent account'^jEftis
interefting ifland, from which this briefdéfcïi'pti'ön fhall ’SèibftraSed.<
It was certainly unknown to the ancients, the information of‘Ptolemy
terminating, as before mentioned, corffiderahfy *tb the horth/and Ihe
mountain óf Ophir, whence Lome
Solomon, is a modern European denomination. -The oènqü^ÉiS 'è d
difcoveries of the Mahometans, in AfiaatidAfrica,remain a^m'oft Important
objedt of geographical inveftigation ; - and it is certain -that life
Arabs in the ninth century had dilcovered regions little known insÉa-
rope till the lixteenth. Among thefe was Sumatra ; which feems alfo,
by an unaccountable depravation, to -béithe'LeJfer Java of Marco Polo jf*
* Even Magmdano, or Mindanao, is by the natives' called Molucca Bazar, or (fee great Mo*
lucca; Foreft, p. 305 : fo there can be no folid reafon for .reffrifting the term to the little- Moluccas.
1 Hiftory of'Sfimitra, 1784, 4*0. 2d edit.
+ Marfden, p. 2 and. 280. This ingenious writer fays that the Arab travellers, r 173. call! this
iflei Ramni, for which he quotes Herbelbt. In this he miftakes the date e f the mamifcript for
the date of the journey, which was A- D. 851.
11 but
but his Greater^ Java may probably bé Borfoty fôr; he dele ribes k as Sumatra.
being Js’o à foiled in ^circuit, heffer- is - 2<doô. À chain of
mountains runs through the whcfldiWvâe rangés being in many parts
double and'ülBle, genefafly neater feth-e;,'w€ftern coaft, where*'they
approach within twenty miles of the fda I f e t the height is flol-’fé
fiderable as 16 retain ïnpw; Moffit -Óphjr, immediately under the
equinodtial linens; 13,842' Feet above the feaj ©ml y yielding about 2èiso
feet to mount Blanc. This feems aim oft ’ the* only Aflatic ^mountain
«^hich has been accurately iheafured j -and'fois not- improbable that
the nbrthern nfôdfîtains of'Tibet, andeven1 thefe ofGaflôàfife, «wotód 'hè
foÛïid greàtlÿ tô exceed the higheft Alps, the mountains beidg probably
on as' grand à fcale as the nVefrs' and othef “featnrSshf thât Mméiiife
continent. Between the ridges of mountains are elevated plams, “with
lakes and water-falls, one of which is from the fummit of a - cM f
mountain. There ’are many rivers on the weftern coaft, batoê-nfeictely
impeded by land banks, fo as to prefent few means^of navigation. Jh -
the midftof what is called the torrid zone, the thermometer feldo® rifes
a b o v e w h i l e in- Bengal it,attains i o i ° ; and inland ehe inhabitants
of the mountains {which alone form zones) ufe foes to difpd the morning
cold ; yet freft, fnoto, and hail are unknown. Thunder andligl#-’
sing are frequent, particularly during the N. W. thonfoon. The ÿèar
has two divMions, called the fainy and dry monfoöns, üheS.<-Ei- bt dry,
beginning about May and ending with September ; the N. W .,‘ ofcwet,
beginning in November and. ending abótt March-,f the,intérmfediate -
months, April and May, ©ÜÖber and November,-being variable-: on
the weft coaft the fêa breeze begins about ten in the forenobnj, an’d*ebhi--
finn^vtili flx in the evening; being fiïcèëëdted by the",land f
during the. night. The- foil is generally a ftiff reddifh cl&y,; oôFyeæed
with a layer of black mould, the fource of perpetual verdure j but three
quarters of the ifle, efpecially towards the foufeh, prefect an impervious
fotfeft. " On the weft, between the mountains and, th^fea, thgrg;;are
large fwatiaps; but -even here the face qfet^country t is, remarkably
broken and uneven. There feem, to be many mines of'gold,* though -*
* Chiefly near Padan, ib. 133. What he ftyr«.\vhite röckdtrnsrtilè'i's quar'fz.
jS f i| il. L ~ ■ mofoy I