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The Malay Archipelago Tlu Malay Archipelago. 479 Art. VI.-THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO. * By Rev. J. K. WIGHT, New Hamburg, N. Y. RENEWED attention will doubtless be drawn to this book because of the more recent and elaborate work by the same distinguished author, the title of which we give in full below, t and which is an attempt to collect and summarize the existing information on the distribution of land animals. and to explain the more remarkable and interesting of the facts, by means of established laws of physical and organic change; in other words, to show the important bearing of researches into the natural history of every part of the world upon the study of its past history. The main idea, which is here worked out in such fulness of detail for the whole earth, was embodied some years since in a paper on the "Zoological Geography of the Malay Archipelago," which appeared in the Journal of Proceedings of the Linnean Society for 1860; and again in a paper read before the Royal Geographical Society in 1863. (Preface.) We shall have occasion to refer again to this more recent work, which in its department, and for those specially interest- ed in geology or natural history, must prove an exceedingly valuable addition to our stores of knowledge. Yet, as better suited to the general reader, and because of the special interest attaching to a portion of the globe so little known, and because of some questions not touched upon in the larger and more elaborate work, we turn to this former publication of Mr. Wal- lace, which, though given to the world some years ago, remains the best authority upon the natural history of those islands, giving at the same time many pleasant pictures of life and travel in scenes so unlike our temperate zone and our civilized 'habits. Mr. Wallace dedicates his book on the Malay Archipelago * The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and tbe Bird of Para- dise. A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature. By Alfred Russell Wallace. Illustrated, pp. 638. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1869. t The Geographical Distributionof Animals. With a study of the Relations of Living and Extinct Fauna, as Elucidating the Past Changes of the Earth's Surface. By Alfred Russell Wallace, author of the " Malay Archipelago," etc. In two Vol- umes. With Maps and Illustrations. pp. 503, 607. New York: Harper & Broth- ers, 1876. Tlte Malay Archipelago. July, to Mr. Darwin, and in his more recent work he says that they were undertaken through his and Prof. Newton's encourage- ment, so that though he does not often place himself in direct antagonism to Scripture statement, he yet pursues a line of in- vestigation which he doubtless thinks is opposed to traditional forms of belief. We welcome, however, thorough investigation in all lines of study, believing, as Dr. Wm. M. Taylor has well said, that the workers in Revelation and Science, as on each side of the Mount Cenis Tunnel, will not meet in opposition but to remove barriers in the inquirer's way. Light will shine through what now appears darkness. There are two points which we assume will be of special in­ terest to the readers of this REVIEW in connection with the Malay Archipelago. First, the bearing of researches into their natural history upon revealed truth; and, secondly, the condi­ tion of man, morally, in those islands, which are so rich in ma­ terial resources. Doubtless few whose attention has not been especially di­ rected to this region, realize the extent of these islands. The Archipelgao is 4,000 miles in length from east to west, and 13,000 in breadth from north to south. In Borneo the whole of the British Isles might be set down and have a margin for one or two islands of the size of Ireland. New Guinea is still larger, being 1,400 miles long, and in the widest part 400 broad, or, if we except Australia, the largest island in the world. The whole amount of land in this Archipelago is supposed to be about the same as in Western Europe, or Germany, Holland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain and Portugal. The variety in size and formation is almost endless, from the small coral lagoon to the high volcanic summit, with its extinct fires, or as, in many cases, smoking and heaving at intervals still. Situated within the tropics, the vegetation on most of these islands is luxuriant-extending from the water's edge high up the craggy sides of its mountains, and including most of the famed woods and fruits of tropical climes-sandal-wood, bamboo, rattan, palms of all descriptions, fruits and spices. Borneo is the home of the orangoutan, which is only equaled by the gorilla, and, next to that monster of the West-African forests, is the largest of the monkey tribe. Du Chaillu found gorillas five feet nine inches in height, while the largest orang is only four feet two inches high. Monkeys of all kinds, and nearly all of the larger The Malay Archipelago. animals, disappear as you go east. But New Guinea and the adjacent islands can lay claim to being the home of that most beautiful of all birds-the bird of Paradise. The products of these islands are so valuable and peculiar that there is no little reason for supposing that Solomon's ships touched at some of them in their three years' voyage to Ophir. Gold and diamonds are to be had in Borneo. Apes and ele- phants' teeth are there, or on the Malay Peninsula, while the pea­ cocks we fancy were this more rare, and most beautiful bird of the world.* Without following Mr. Wallace in detail as he traveled from island to island, now living in European towns, now in native huts, now traveling in a steamer, and then in a native prau, we wish to state some of the results of his researches; and- • The word translated peacocks in 1 Kings x: 22 and 2 Chron. ix: 21 is, tl'~!lJ!l -tou~ayi"" which Gesenius fancies to have 'been the domestic name of the pea- cock in India, of which country it is a native. A bird very similar to the peacock of India is found in Java, and it is easily domesticated in almost any country. That India was not the Ophir or Tarshish of Solomon's three years' voyages seems likely, not merely because it was so near, but also because it was in all probability reached by an overland trade, of which we have an indication in the building of Tadmor, 120 miles N .E. of Damascus, and more than half the distance to the Eu­ phrates. While the peacock can be easily domesticated, and thus introduced without difficulty into neighboring countries, it is almost impossible to tame the Bird of Paradise or make it live in confinement, and thus transport it to other coun­ tries. Mr. Wallace tried caging several varieties, but though feeding well, and lively for a day or two, they all died by the third or fourth day. He finally found a pair alive at Singapore, and purchased them for £100, and brought them to England, where they lived for a year or two. It is doubtful whether any light can be thrown upon the question of the right interpretation of toucayim from the pres­ ent names of these birds. Gesenius says the Sanserit name for peacock is sikhi. Mr. Wallace says one variety of the birds of Paradise (for there are eighteen dif­ ferent kinds) is called by the natins " goby goby," and its cry is wawk-wawk wawk, wok- wok-wok , which resounds in early morning through the woods. The nearest resemblance that we know in sound is the Toucan of South America. But neither the beauty of the bird, nor the direction from Ezion-geber, would point to South America as the Ophir. Besides beauty of plumage, another idea may pos­ sibly have been the attraction when apes were brought in those ships, and that is the power of imitation which belongs to the parrot tribe. The distance across oceans is not such an obstacle as we might suppose. The Asiatics of Solomon's time, and a few centuries later, when Babylon was built, and when Lautoz, the Chinese philosopher, visited Greece, and Brahminism spread to Java, where its solid brick and stone ruins are now seen among bamboo huts, and Buddhism sent its missionaries to Ceylon. Siam and Japan, and across the Himalayas to Thibet and China, were a race whose intellectual activity and enterprise are in striking contrast with the apathy and sluggishness of their descendants. The Malay Archipelago. [July, I. As to the distribution of animal life. The impression with most would be that in islands located as these are, within the tropics, and in near proximity, and with a flora very similar, that the fauna should be very much alike. But instead of that, the variations are distinct and marked. The larger animals, as the elephant, the rhinoceros, wild cattle, and also monkeys, are to a great extent the same in Sumatra, Borneo and Java, as in the Malay Peninsula. But eastward all the larger animals dis­ appear. In New Guinea none are to be found; and instead are pigs, bats, opossums and kangaroos. The birds differ as widely as the animals. Thus, out of three hundred and fifty varieties of land birds inhabiting Java, not more than ten have passed eastward into Celebes. Of the one hundred and eight land birds of New Guinea and adjacent islands, twenty-nine are ex­ clusively characteristic of it.
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