The population is estimated at 4,230,000, and consists principally of Javanese, particularly in the interior; but there are numbers of Chinese, Malays, Arabs, Hindoos, negroes, and Europeans in the districts on the coast. The commerce of the island is chiefly in the hands of the Dutch, who have under their dominion more than half the population. Java was taken by the English in 1811, but has since been restored to the Dutch.

Batavia, on the N. W. coast, is the capital of the island and of all the Dutch or, as they are now called, Netherland East-India possessions. It was formerly a place of immense trade, and contained 160,000 inhabitants, but the climate is extremely unhealthy, and the population is now reduced to 47,000.

BANCA is a large island lying E. of Sumatra and separated from it by the straits of Banca. It belongs to the Dutch, and is chiefly celebrated for its mines of tin, which yield about four million pounds annually.

SUMBAWA, lying east of Java, is celebrated for the tremendous volcano of Tomboro. The eruption in 1815 is the most terrible on record. The explosions were heard at the distance of more than 900 miles, and the ashes fell in such quantities as to produce total darkness at the distance of 200 miles.

TIMOR, the most eastern of the Sunda isles, is about 200 miles long and 30 or 40 broad, and is rich in all the choicest productions of tropical climates. The Dutch and Portuguese have set

tlements here.

II. BORNEO.

Borneo, the largest island in the world, except New Holland, is in the centre of the Asiatic islands, and is intersected by the equator. It is 800 miles long, and is supposed to contain more than 300,000 square miles. The coasts are low and swampy. The interior is almost wholly unknown to Europeans. The commerce of the island is principally in the hands of the Chinese, who export gold, diamonds, pepper, camphor,and edible bird's nests which are regarded in China as a great delicacy. Borneo produces also the ourang-outang, a singular animal bearing a striking resemblance to the human species. It is of short stature, scarcely exceeding three feet in height, with slender limbs and a broad and naked face, though the rest of the body is profusely covered with hair. When taken young it becomes extremely gentle and docile, and much attached to those around it. It sheds tears when displeased, rolls on the floor, and beats its head against it with all the gestures of a passionate child. The population of the island is estimated at 3,000,000.

Borneo, the capital of a kingdom of the same name, in the N. The W. part of the island, is on a river 10 miles from the sea. houses are built over the water and supported on posts, and the inhabitants communicate with each other entirely by boats. Aliigators lurk below to prey on the offals dropping through the

lattice work of the floor. This mode of building cities is not uncommon in this part of Asia.

III. PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

These islands lie N. E. of Borneo, and stretch from 5° to 20° N. lat. They are more than 1,200 in number, and belong chiefly to the Spaniards, who have small settlements on many of them. The productions are rice, cotton, tobacco, coffee and many other tropical fruits. Gold, iron, copper, lead and other minerals are also found in the mountains. The population is estimated at 3,000,000, more than half of whom are subject to the Spaniards.

LUCON the largest island, is situated at the northern extremity of the group, and conta ins about 70,000 square miles. Manilla, the capital of the island and of all the Philippines, is on the S. W. coast and has a fine harbor and considerable commerce,

MAGINDANAO, the next largest island and the most southerly of the group, contains about 30,000 square miles. The Spaniards have settlements along the northern coast but all the rest of the island is under independent chiefs. The inhabitants are much given to piracy, and even depend on it as a resource for subsistence. They cruise among the Philippines, where they attack merchant vessels, and frequently extend their depredations to Java, Sumatra, Borneo and Celebes.

The SOOLOO ISLES are a cluster of small islands, about 60 in sumber, lying between Magindanao and Borneo, and deriving their name from Sooloo, the principal island in the group. They are not commonly reckoned among the Philippine islands. The inhabitants are pirates and carry on an unceasing warfare with the Spanish colonies in the Philippines.

IV. CELEBES.

Celebes, sometimes called Macassar, is a large island intersected by the equator, and lying east of Borneo, from which it is separated by a channel or arm of the sea called the straits of Macassar. It is of a very irregular figure, consisting of four long narrow peninsulas, separated from each other by deep bays. The area is estimated at 90,000 square miles. Among its productions are gold, beautiful timber, rice, cotton and most of the staple products of the East Indies. The inhabitants are of Malay origin, strongly attached to a sea faring life and much addicted to piracy. The Dutch have many forts along the coast, and the island is regarded as the key to the Moluccas. Macassar, the principal settlement of the Dutch, is on the S. W. coast. is a flourishing settlement, and carries on a direct trade with China.

It

V. SPICE ISLANDS OR MOLUCCAS.

The Moluccas include all the islands between New Guinea and Celebes. They belong to the Dutch, and are celebrated, as their name indicates, for the richest spices. Cloves and nutmegs grow here in perfection, and the rareness and great value of this produce have given rise to much contention among the principal European nations for the possession of these islands. The Portuguese first visited them in 1510,and held them till they were conquered by the Dutch in 1607. During the late European war they fell into the hands of the English, but are now restored to the Dutch. The following are the principal islands:

1. Amboyna, situated near the S. W. extremity of Ceram, in lon. 128° 5' E. lat. 3° 40' S. is a small island containing only 450 square miles, but it is the chief of the Moluccas, being the residence of the governor, and contains 45,000 inhabitants. It is celebrated for its clove trees which yield 650,000 pounds annually. The districts appropriated to the cultivation of the clove are strictly limited by the government, and the sovereigns of some of the neighboring islands have been compelled to destroy their plantations that the Dutch might enjoy a monopoly.

2. Ceram, lying under the parallel of 3° S. lat. contains 4000 square miles.

3. Gilolo, the largest of the group, is of a very irregular figure, and is intersected near its southern extremity by the equator.

4. The Banda islands, ten in number, lie about 130 miles E. S. E. of Amboyna. Their chief produce is nutmegs, for the cultivation of which four of the islands are laid out in plantations. The cultivation is allowed only in these four islands. In all the others care is taken to extirpate the tree.

AUSTRALASIA.

Situation.] Australasia, the fifth great division of the globe, consists of numerous islands lying southeast of the Asiatic islands. The largest is New Holland, which by some geographers is termed a continent. The other islands are New Guinea, New Britain, New Ireland, Solomon's islands, New Hebrides, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Van Diemen's land, together with a multitude of small isles surrounding them in all directions. New Guinea is separated from the northern coast of New Holland by Torres' straits, and Van Diemen's land from the southern 'coast by Bass's strait. The rest of the islands lie east of these and of New Holland.

NEW HOLLAND.

Situation and Extent.] New Holland, the largest island in the world, extends from 10° to 39° S. lat. and from 113° to 153° E. lon. It is 2600 miles long from E. to W. between Sandy cape and the entrance of Shark's bay, and the area is estimated at 3,000,000 square miles.

Coast.] Our knowledge of New Holland is almost confined to the coast. The Dutch discovered the island in 1606, but it is only within the last 50 years that any serious attempts have been made to increase our knowledge of the country. In 1770 Capt. Cook explored the eastern coast; and by various expeditions, fitted out by the British government between 1795 and the present time, a complete survey has been made of the whole coast, except 8 or 9 degrees of latitude in the N. W. The position of every important point has been ascertained, and all the inlets and bays have been traced to their conclusion. The most remarkable result of this survey is, that the mouth of no large river has been discovered in the whole circuit of the island. Off the east coast there is a singular barrier of coral reefs, extending in a N. W. direction, parallel with the shore at the distance of 20 or 30 leagues, from about 23° S. lat. to Torres' straits in lat. 10° S. a distance of 840 miles.

New South Wales.] The country along the eastern coast of the island for an indefinite extent is claimed by the British, and is called by them New South Wales. All the settlements yet made are in the S. E. on a narrow belt of land included between the coast and a lofty range of hills, called by the colonists_the Blue mountains. Sydney, the capital of the colony, is on Port Jackson bay in lat. 32° 53′ S. and contains 7,000 inhabitants. All · the other towns are within 60 miles of Sydney. The climate is healthy and pleasant, and favourable to the growth of wheat, maize, and barley, as well as oranges, lemons and other tropical fruits.

The colonists are principally convicts, banished from Great Britain for their crimes; but within a few years voluntary emigrants of industrious habits have resorted hither in considerable numbers; and the population and wealth of the colony are now increasing with astonishing rapidity. According to an official return in 1818, the inhabitants were 25,050 in number, and owned more than 200,000 sheep, 55,000 horned cattle, 3,600 horses and 24,000 hogs. The increase of the population during the single year 1818 was nearly 5,000, or one fifth of the whole.

Interior.] No attempts were made to cross the Blue moun tains for the purpose of exploring the interior of the island until the year 1813. Since that time several expeditions have been undertaken by the British, particularly two, in 1817 and 1818, under lieut. Oxley. He ascertained that several large rivers rise on the west side of the Blue mountains, and succeeded in tracing their course for many hundred miles. They appear

to terminate, however, in immense swamps or inland lakes. From the result of these expeditions, and from the fact that no river of magnitude enters the ocean from any part of the coast, it appears highly probable that the surface of this vast country resembles a shallow basin, whose margin is the sea coast, from which the waters, descending towards the interior, form a succession of swamps and morasses, or perhaps a vast mediterranean

sea.

Inhabitants.] The natives of New Holland, so far as they are known, are among the most degraded of the human species. They are ugly and dirty. Their noses are flat, their lips thick, their mouths stretch from ear to ear; they eat worms and caterpillars, and rub their bodies all over with fish oil, which in hot weather makes them intolerably offensive. They have no regular religion, but are a poor superstitious race, believing in ghosts and witches.

VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.

Van Diemen's land is a fertile island, about 170 miles long and 150 broad, separated from the south coast of New Holland by Bass's straits. The British planted a colony here in 1803 which is now very flourishing. In 1818 it contained 3,557 persons, of whom about one half were convicts from England and New South Wales.

NEW GUINEA.

New Guinea, sometimes called Papua, lies north of New Holland, from which it is separated by Torres' straits. It is about as large as Borneo, but much longer, being more than 1200 miles in extent from N. W. to S. E. The coast has been very little explored, and it is supposed by many that it is not a single island, but a great number of islands divided by narrow straits. The shores abound with cocoa trees, and in some parts with nutmeg trees, and as far as it is known it appears to be a beautiful country. The inhabitants are negroes, of a savage and hideous appearance. There is no European settlement upon the island.

NEW BRITAIN, NEW IRELAND AND SOLOMON'S ISLANDS.

These islands lie east of New Guinea, and appear to have a fertile soil, rich in all the products of tropical climates. The inhabitants are negroes, of the same general appearance and character with those of New Guinea. The Europeans have no settlements here.