The Malay archipelago : the land of the orang-utan ... - Wallace Online

;THE MALAY AECHIPELAGO.CHAPTEK I.PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.If we look at a globe or a map of the Eastern hemisphere, weshall perceive between Asia and Australia a number of large andsmall islands, forming a connected group distinct from thosegreat masses of land, and having little connexion with either ofthem. Situated upon the Equator, and bathed by the tepidwater of the great tropical oceans, this region enjoys a climatemore uniformly hot and nioi.st than almost any other part of theglobe, and teems with natural pi'oductions wliich are elsewhereunknown. The richest of fruits and the most precious of spicesare here indigenous. It produces the giant flowers of theKafflesia, the great green-winged Ornithoptera (princes amongthe butterfly tribes), the man-like Orang-Utan, and the gorgeousBirds of Paradise. It is inhabited by a peculiar and interestingrace of mankind—the Malay, found nowhere bej'ond the limitsof this insular tract, which has hence been named the MalayArchipelago.To the ordinary Englishman this is perhaps the least knownpart of the globe. Our possessions in it are few and scantyscarcely any of our travellers go to exjjlore it ; and in manycollections of majDs it is almost ignored, being divided betweenAsia and the Pacific Islands.^ It thus happens that few personsrealize that, as a whole, it is comparable with tlie primarydivisions of the globe, and that some of its separate islands arelarger than France or the Austrian empire. The traveller, however,soon acquires different ideas. He sails for days, or evenfor weeks, along the shores of one of these great islands, oftenso great that its inhabitants believe it to be a vast continent.He finds that voyages among these islands are commonly1 Since the establishment of the Britisli Xortli Borneo Company the region is moreknown, but the Dutch Colonics are still rarely visited.SB