Introduction

The Indian Archipelago, at the moment of the discovery of both, may be advantageously compared even with the New World itself, to which, in fact, its moral and physical state bore a closer resemblance than any other portion of the globe. The following short abstract of the topography of the Archipelago will serve our present purpose. The Archipelago contains three islands of the first rank in size, namely, Borneo, New Guinea, and Sumatra. The whole Archipelago is arranged into groups and chains of islands, with here and there a great island intervening. The Bay of Bengal, and the Indian Ocean, wash the western shores of the Archipelago, the Great Pacific its southern and eastern shores, and the China sea its northern. The western boundary of the Archipelago is formed by the Malayan peninsula and Sumatra. The northern barrier of the Archipelago is formed by the great islands of Luconia, Palawan, and Borneo.