Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

CHAPTER III.HE EASTEEN ARCHIPELAGO (INDONESIA).General Sura'ey./yVr^J^TlNDONESIA or Insiiliiidia, that is, " Insular India," as the Dutch-^ " T-^Xiii have rightly named this region, is better known to English readersas the Eastern, Asiatic, Malay, or East Indian Archijoelago, andsometimes by the simpler and somewhat more convenient expression,Malaysia. It constitutes, if not a political, certainly a well-definedgeographical area. The submarine bank on which stand the two great islands ofJava and Sumatra terminates abruptly towards the Indian Ocean in steep escarpmentsplunging into the very deepest abysses of the whole basin. Java is continuedeastwards by a chain of smaller islands extending to the north-east of Timor, andevidently forming part of the same region ;the volcanoes traversing this long lineof islands attest the action of the same geological forces. South of Paj)uasia thenarrow igneous zone is deflected northwards, as if to mark the eastern limitsof Indonesia proper. One of the lines of volcanic forces traverses the island ofHalmahera (Jiloh), while another touches the north-east extremity of Celebes,thus enclosing this great island within the fiery semicircle sweeping round fromSumatra.Borneo, largest of all the Sunda Islands, and of almost continental proportions,is even more closelj^ connected with the same group than Sumatra and Java, for itstands entirely on the same scarcely submerged marine plateau. The three greatislands are separated by shallow waters less than 50 fathoms deep, where vesselscan everywhere ride at anchor. Thus an upheaval of about 40 fathoms wouldsuffice to enlarge the Asiatic continent by an extent of nearly 1,500,000 squaremiles.In many respects the Philippines might also be regarded as forming part of thesame natiu'al region as Indonesia, for the semicircle of volcanoes is continued acrossthis archipelago, while its two chief members, Mindanao and Luzon, are bothattached to Borneo by chains of islands, islets, and shoals. But the Philippinesalready belong to a different climate, and they are almost everywhere washed bydeep waters. The Sulu waters, flowing between Borneo and the PhiKppines,present abysses of over 2,200 fathoms.