are claimed by the Dutch, and the Dutch and Portuguese have settlements in Timor, the largest island of the group of the same name.

8. The Moluccas, or Spice Islands, centre round Gilolo, the largest island of the group, and "embrace all the islands which yield the beautiful nutmeg treeresembling our pear-tree, with deep-green glossy leaves, giving the nut and its covering mace-and the small evergreen which gives the aromatic flower-buds called cloves. The chief nutmeg plantations are, however, in the Banda group of the Moluccas. Most of the islands are mountainous, and lie in the great volcanic band already described. The soil is mostly fertile, and yields, in addition to rich crops of nutmeg and cloves, the sagopalm, and fine tropical fruits.

9. Celebes is an island a little larger than England and Wales, with a population estimated at about two millions. Owing to its singular form-which has been likened to that of a star-fish with the rays torn off from one side-no part of the island is more than sixty or seventy miles from the sea. So far as it is known, the island is said to be mountainous and healthy, having a fertile soil and varied scenery. It yields rice, maize, millet, coffee, the cocoa-nut palm, the sago palm, the sugar-cane, and numberless tropical fruits. The animal life of this island is remarkable. Most of the species of wild mammals, birds, and insects are found nowhere else in the world. Macassar is the chief town.

10. Timor, the chief island of the Timor, or Lesser Sunda, group, has an area somewhat larger than Wales. As we have already noticed, the climate is influenced by the dry south-east monsoon, and accordingly the island is not fertile throughout; but near the sea, rice, maize, sugar-cane, coffee, and the usual tropical fruits are grown. The chief exports are sandal-wood, bees-wax, and maize.

Sumbawa, another of the islands of this group, is noted as the scene of one of the most fearful volcanic eruptions recorded in history. Sandal-wood and beeswax are the chief exports of Flores and Sumba, as they are of most of the islands of this group.

THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.-INDO-MALAYSIA-THE

PINES.

PHILIP

1. The animals and plants of Indo-Malaysia approximate much more closely to those of the adjacent continent than those of Austral-Malaysia; indeed, very many species are identical. The chief islands of this group are Borneo, Java, and Sumatra.

2. Borneo has an area equal to about five times that of England and Wales, with a population somewhere between one and two millions. The shores of this island are usually low. They are bordered by extensive forestcovered plains, intersected by large rivers, navigable for a long way inland. The interior is more elevated; but, except that there are several mountain chains, very little is known regarding the central portion of this fertile and important island.

3. The finest crops are grown almost without cultivation; maize, rice, sago, yams, cotton, sugar, spices, and tobacco, are among a few of the products. Gold, iron, platinum, and other metals, are known to exist, and large diamonds are occasionally found in this island. In the woods are found the orang-utang, tapirs, elephants, rhinoceros, tigers, bears, wild oxen, and many splendid birds; whilst the rivers and lagoons abound with fish, as well as crocodiles and other reptiles. Here, also, the wide-spread durian, "the fruit of the East," and the curious pitcher-plants, attain their greatest development.

4. Politically, two-thirds of Borneo-the western and south-eastern sides-belong to Holland, and is admini stered by Residents, with the aid of the native Sultans. Borneo proper, or Bruni, is an independent Malay kingdom, but the country is wretchedly governed, and gradually falling to pieces. Labuan, a small island off the north-west coast, belongs to England, and is valuable as a coaling station

5. Java, though only one-sixth the size of Borneo, is of far greater importance. This island is in the possession of the Dutch, and has a population of 18,000,000. The

It

island is noted for its luxuriant vegetation, its splendid fertility, and for the number of its active volcanoes. yields, among other tropical produce, rice, maize, indigo, sugar, coffee, pepper, tea, and tobacco, in great abundance; and in its forest grows the famous Upas tree, from the juice of which a deadly poison is extracted Batavia is

the capital of this island, and the largest and most flourishing town in the Malay Archipelago.

6. Sumatra, a large part of which is also in the hands of the Dutch, has an area about equal to that of the British Isles, with a population of between five and seven millions. The interior of this long island is traversed by a mountain chain which approaches nearer to the west than the east side. Hence the principal part of the open land is on the east side. On the west coast there are

extensive and unhealthy swamps. The chief product of the island is black pepper; but rice, maize, cocoa-nuts, sugar, cotton, tobacco, camphor, coral, and other products, are exported.

7. The Philippine Islands lie to the north-east of Borneo. They cover an area about as large as that of England and Wales. Luzon in the north, and Mindanao in the south, are the largest in the group. Most of the islands belong to Spain, and the group was named after Philip II., a king of that country. All the tropical and sub-tropical fruits and grains prosper luxuriantly in these favoured islands, in addition to cotton, tobacco, indigo, sugar-cane, and many forest trees highly valued for their timber. The islands are volcanic, and Manilla, the capital, famous for the manufacture of "Manilla " cigars, was nearly destroyed by an earthquake in 1863.

8. The connecting link between Borneo and the Philippines are the beautiful Sulu or Soloo Isles. No more picturesque spots of land exist in the Malay Archipelago. Some of the islands are still under their native rulers, but the best have succumbed to Spain.