IN the first chapter of this work I have stated generally the
reasons which lead us to conclude that
The large islands in the
western portion of the Archipelago - Java, Sumatra, and Borneo - as
well as the Malay peninsula and the Philippine islands, have been
recently separated from the continent of Asia. I now propose to
give a sketch of the Natural History of these, which I term the
Indo-Malay islands, and to show how far it supports this view,
and how much information it is able to give us of the antiquity
and origin of the separate islands.
The flora of the Archipelago is at present so imperfectly known,
and I have myself paid so little attention to it, that I cannot
draw from it many facts of importance. The Malayan type of
vegetation is however a very important one; and Dr. Hooker
informs us, in his "Flora Indica," that it spreads over all the
moister and more equable parts of India, and that many plants
found in Ceylon, the Himalayas, the Nilghiri, and Khasia mountains
are identical with those of Java and the Malay peninsula. Among
the more characteristic forms of this flora are the rattans -
climbing palms of the genus Calamus, and a great variety of
tall, as well as stemless palms. Orchids, Aracae, Zingiberaceae
and ferns, are especially abundant, and the genus Grammatophyllum -
a gigantic epiphytal orchid, whose clusters of leaves and flower-stems
are ten or twelve feet long - is peculiar to it. Here, too, is the
domain of the wonderful pitcher plants (Nepenthaceae), which are only
represented elsewhere by solitary species in Ceylon, Madagascar, the
Seychelles, Celebes, and the Moluccas. Those celebrated fruits, the
Mangosteen and the Durian, are natives of this region, and will hardly
grow out of the Archipelago. The mountain plants of Java have already
been alluded to as showing a former connexion with the continent of
Asia; and a still more extraordinary and more ancient connection
with Australia has been indicated by Mr. Low's collections from
the summit of Kini-balou, the loftiest mountain in Borneo.
Plants have much greater facilities for passing across arms of
the sea than animals. The lighter seeds are easily carried by the
winds, and many of them are specially adapted to be so carried.
Others can float a long tune unhurt in the water, and are drifted
by winds and currents to distant shores. Pigeons, and other
fruit-eating birds, are also the means of distributing plants,
since the seeds readily germinate after passing through their
bodies. It thus happens that plants which grow on shores and
lowlands have a wide distribution, and it requires an extensive
knowledge of the species of each island to determine the
relations of their floras with any approach to accuracy. At
present we have no such complete knowledge of the botany of
the several islands of the Archipelago; and it is only by such
striking phenomena as the occurrence of northern and even
European genera on the summits of the Javanese mountains that we
can prove the former connection of that island with the Asiatic
continent.
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