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Show CHAPTER XVII. DOHNEO AND JAVA. Position and physical features of Borneo-Zoological fcatnrcs of Borneo : Mammalia -Binl~-Tbe aflinities of the Bornean fauna-Java, its position and physical features-General character of the fauna of Java -Differences between the fauna of Java and that of the other Malay Islands-Special relations of the Javan fauna to that of tho Asiatic continent- Past geographical changes of Java and Bomeo- The Philippine Islands-Concluding remark~ on the Malay Islands. As a representative of recent continental islands situated in the tropics, we will take Borneo, since, although perhaps not much more ancient than Great Britain, it presents a considerable amount of speciality; and, in its relations to the surrounding islands and the Asiatic continent, offers us some problems of great interest and considerable difficulty. The accompanying map shows that Borneo is situated on the eastern side of a submarine bank of enormous extent, being about 1,200 miles from north to south, and 1,500 from east to west, and embracing Java, Suma,tra, and the Malay Peninsula. This vast area is all included within the 100 fathom line, but by fn,r the larger part of it-from the Gulf of Siam to the Java, Sea-is under fifty fathoms, or about the same depth as the sea that separates our own island from the continent. Tho distance from Borneo to the southern extremity of the J\1alay Peninsula is about 350 miles, and it is nearly as far from Sumatm and Java, while it is more than 600 miles from the Siamase Peninsula, opposite to which its long northern coast extends. There is, I believe, nowhere else upon the globe, an island so far CHAP. XVII.] BORNEO AND JAVA. 34!> MAl' 01' BORNEO AND JAVA, SIIOWING THE GRT~A.T SUBMARINE BANK Oli' SOl.l'JII·EASTERN ASIA, The light tint shows n less <lep1h tlwn 100 fathoms. The flgnrcs show the depth or the sen in fntho111s |