Banca, On The Other Hand, Agrees With Malacca, Singapore, And The
Intervening Island Of Lingen, In Being Formed Of Granite And
Laterite; And These Have All Most Likely Once Formed An Extension
Of The Malay Peninsula.
As the rivers of Borneo and Sumatra have
been for ages filling up the intervening sea, we may be sure that
its depth has recently been greater, and it is very probable that
those large islands were never directly connected with each other
except through the Malay peninsula.
At that period the same
species of squirrel and Pitta may have inhabited all these
countries; but when the subterranean disturbances occurred which
led to the elevation of the volcanoes of Sumatra, the small
island of Banca may have been separated first, and its
productions being thus isolated might be gradually modified
before the separation of the larger islands had been completed.
As the southern part of Sumatra extended eastward and formed the
narrow straits of Banca, many birds and insects and some Mammalia
would cross from one to the other, and thus produce a general
similarity of productions, while a few of the older inhabitants
remained, to reveal by their distinct forms, their different
origin. Unless we suppose some such changes in physical geography
to have occurred, the presence of peculiar species of birds and
mammals in such an island as Banca is a hopeless puzzle; and I
think I have shown that the changes required are by no means so
improbable as a mere glance at the map would lead us to suppose.
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