Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

92 AUSTRALASIA.region of the Musi delta has been formed during the historic period. Even thecity of Palembang, now Ij'ing in the interior far above the estuary, is said to havebeen originally founded on the coast itself at the mouth of the river. The mangroves,by which these low-lying tracts are overgrown, contribute to the enlargementof the dry land by arresting the sedimentar}' matter amid their branches.Fig. 33. Alldtial Plains of the Musi Basin.Scale 1 : 4,000,000.— t" M JNT01 n'"^- I 'IOld Shore -line.Recent formations.and by shedding their fruitsbeyond the river banks in the muddy waters, wherethey take root.The West and East Sumatran Islands.West of Sumatra runs a chain ofislands disposed parallel with the west coast.Abysses over 1,000 fathoms deep separate this chain from the Nicobar Archipelagobut with Sumatra it is connected by the incline of the now submerged interveningslopes. These islands form, so to say, an advanced coastline of the neighbouringmainland, and consist of the same Tertiary formations as those of the adjacentshores. Lying on a marine bed at a mean depth of not more than 60 fathoms,they stand on the very edge of the submai'ine Indonesian plateaux. Immediately