On The One Side We
Have Baboons, Lions, Elephants, Buffaloes, And Giraffes; On The
Other Spider-Monkeys, Pumas, Tapirs, Anteaters, And Sloths; While
Among Birds, The Hornbills, Turacos, Orioles, And Honeysuckers Of
Africa Contrast Strongly With The Toucans, Macaws, Chatterers,
And Hummingbirds Of America.
Now let us endeavour to imagine (what it is very probable may
occur in future ages) that a slow
Upheaval of the bed of the
Atlantic should take place, while at the same time earthquake-
shocks and volcanic action on the land should cause increased
volumes of sediment to be poured down by the rivers, so that the
two continents should gradually spread out by the addition of
newly-formed lands, and thus reduce the Atlantic which now
separates them, to an arm of the sea a few hundred miles wide. At
the same time we may suppose islands to be upheaved in mid-
channel; and, as the subterranean forces varied in intensity, and
shifted their points of greatest action, these islands would
sometimes become connected with the land on one side or other of
the strait, and at other times again be separated from it.
Several islands would at one time be joined together, at another
would be broken up again, until at last, after many long ages of
such intermittent action, we might have an irregular archipelago
of islands filling up the ocean channel of the Atlantic, in whose
appearance and arrangement we could discover nothing to tell us
which had been connected with Africa and which with America. The
animals and plants inhabiting these islands would, however,
certainly reveal this portion of their former history. On those
islands which had ever formed a part of the South American
continent, we should be sure to find such common birds as
chatterers and toucans and hummingbirds, and some of the peculiar
American quadrupeds; while on those which had been separated from
Africa, hornbills, orioles, and honeysuckers would as certainly
be found. Some portion of the upraised land might at different
times have had a temporary connection with both continents, and
would then contain a certain amount of mixture in its living
inhabitants. Such seems to have been the case with the islands of
Celebes and the Philippines. Other islands, again, though in such
close proximity as Bali and Lombock, might each exhibit an almost
unmixed sample of the productions of the continents of which they
had directly or indirectly once formed a part.
In the Malay Archipelago we have, I believe, a case exactly
parallel to that which I have here supposed. We have indications
of a vast continent, with a peculiar fauna and flora having been
gradually and irregularly broken up; the island of Celebes
probably marking its furthest westward extension, beyond which
was a wide ocean. At the same time Asia appears to have been
extending its limits in a southeast direction, first in an
unbroken mass, then separated into islands as we now see it, and
almost coming into actual contact with the scattered fragments of
the great southern land.
From this outline of the subject, it will be evident how
important an adjunct Natural History is to Geology; not only in
interpreting the fragments of extinct animals found in the
earth's crust, but in determining past changes in the surface
which have left no geological record. It is certainly a wonderful
and unexpected fact that an accurate knowledge of the
distribution of birds and insects should enable us to map out
lands and continents which disappeared beneath the ocean long
before the earliest traditions of the human race. Wherever the
geologist can explore the earth's surface, he can read much of
its past history, and can determine approximately its latest
movements above and below the sea-level; but wherever oceans and
seas now extend, he can do nothing but speculate on the very
limited data afforded by the depth of the waters. Here the
naturalist steps in, and enables him to fill up this great gap in
the past history of the earth.
One of the chief objects of my travels was to obtain evidence of
this nature; and my search after such evidence has been rewarded
by great success, so that I have been able to trace out with some
probability the past changes which one of the most interesting
parts of the earth has undergone. It may be thought that the
facts and generalizations here given would have been more
appropriately placed at the end rather than at the beginning of a
narrative of the travels which supplied the facts. In some cases
this might be so, but I have found it impossible to give such an
account as I desire of the natural history of the numerous
islands and groups of islands in the Archipelago, without
constant reference to these generalizations which add so much to
their interest. Having given this general sketch of the subject,
I shall be able to show how the same principles can be applied to
the individual islands of a group, as to the whole Archipelago;
and thereby make my account of the many new and curious animals
which inhabit them both, more interesting and more instructive
than if treated as mere isolated facts.
Contrasts of Races. - Before I had arrived at the conviction that
the eastern and western halves of the Archipelago belonged to
distinct primary regions of the earth, I had been led to group
the natives of the Archipelago under two radically distinct
races. In this I differed from most ethnologists who had before
written on the subject; for it had been the almost universal
custom to follow William von Humboldt and Pritchard, in classing
all the Oceanic races as modifications of one type. Observation
soon showed me, however, that Malays and Papuans differed
radically in every physical, mental, and moral character; and
more detailed research, continued for eight years, satisfied me
that under these two forms, as types, the whole of the peoples of
the Malay Archipelago and Polynesia could be classified.
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