Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE EASTERN ARCHIPELAGO. INTRODUCTION. A GENERAL VIEW OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. ITS Cosmos?PRINCIPAL DIVISIONS?INHABITANTS?FLORA?FAUNA?ITS VOLCANIC CHAIN?ASIA AND AUSTRALIA?THE ISLANDS OF WHICH IT IS COMPOSED? BRIEF SURVEY OF THEIR CHARACTERISTICS ? THE INDO-MALA7 DIVISION?THE TIMOR OROtTP?CELEBES?THE MOLUCCAS NEW GUINEA. DIVISIONS OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. E prudent traveller, before undertaking a journey into a new country with which he has no previous acquaintance, is careful to provide himself with all the information he can procure from trustworthy books and maps in reference to its prominent features, that, when he enters it, he may not feel altogether a stranger, but know enough of its situation and divisions, its relation to other countries, and its distinctive characters, to form some idea of the nature of his journey. His interest in what he sees is necessarily increased by this knowledge. If he ascend a range of hills, he remembers that this range forma the watershed, it may be, of a considerable area, and contributes to its productiveness; if he 14 CHOOSING LANDMARKS. descend into a valley, he remembers that it opens, perhaps, on a wide and beautiful plain, to which it affords the only access. At every step of his way he finds the usefulness and value of the data he has been careful to acquire. In like manner, when the reader comes to the study of a particular region, it is desirable that he should be furnished at the outset with so much information as will facilitate that study, and add to its attractiveness; that he should be shown the principal characteristics of the "new world" into which he is to be introduced; that he should understand its leading divisions, the peculiarities of its scenery, and its exact position with respect to the districts adjacen...