ABSTRACT
The Malay Peninsula lies at the extreme south-east corner of Asia, being connected with Siam and Burma by the Isthmus of Kra. Malaya is a typical doldrum habitat, and the effect of the southward movement of the trade-wind belt in the northern winter season is discounted by the monsoons and the shelter given by the great central mountain masses to all parts except the east coast. The famous tin deposits of Malaya occur in or near the granite, and its extensive ranges are covered with dense tropical forest right up to the summits, as a rule. Malay settlements outside the rivers proper were on estuaries or islands, as at Malacca or Singapore, where the sea took the place of the river as the source of food, locomotion, sport and sanitation. The seas round the Peninsula are well stocked, and fishing has always been one of the few flourishing industries of the real Malays.
