the stream of human migration spread from the great Table Land of Asia to the Archipelago and the remotest islands of Polynesia, anciently the seat of one of the most famous Hindu colonies, and, in modern ages the great field of Malayan history,—it deserves to be rescued from neglect. Its economical value has only lately begun to excite adequate attention, but it needs little foresight to pronounce that in a few years many of its plains, so well adapted for the production of Sugar and all other tropical commodities, and its mountain and hill ranges, which are amongst the richest magazines of tin ore in the world, will be occupied and explored by British enterprize.

PLAN OF THE JOURNAL.

The bulk of the Journal will consist of articles, chiefly translated from the Dutch and Spanish, relating to Sumatra, Java, Borneo, Celebes, the Philippines and the Moluccas, Bali and other islands of the Archipelago. These will be very varied in their nature, embracing as they will, the history, language, literature, and ethnography of the various races who inhabit this great region, and contributions to almost every department of natural history and physical science, as well as topographical, agricultural, economical and miscellaneous subjects. Original papers of a similar nature, but more limited range, will from time to time be given on the countries of the Malay Peninsula, Siam, Borneo, and occasionally we hope on Cochin China, &c. In particular, papers on the physical geography and geology of the Peninsula and the adjacent islands, on the history, language, literature, manners and customs of the Malays, and on the aboriginal mountain races will be frequently, although not regularly, given. The best Malayan prose and poetical works will be printed, accompanied by translations and explanatory and critical notes. We are prepared to commence a series of these works and translations in the first number of the Journal, and to continue it uninterruptedly till we have published all the productions of Malayan writers that deserve to be preserved. The British Settlements, with their motley population, and great diversity of ethnographical riches, will furnish abundant interesting matter. We do not venture to promise that China, Australia, and the farther East will regularly contribute to our stores, but the centrical position of Singapore, relatively to intercourse by steam with Europe, leads us to entertain a strong hope that we shall not want original communications from these countries when the objects of the Journal become known to our countrymen and other foreigners resident there.

The extension of the commerce and influence of the British and Dutch in the Archipelago, the character and tendency of their respective policies, the condition of the British Settlements, their influence on the Asiatics around us, and the prospects and progress of education and christianity in these regions, will from time to time be reviewed, but, we think we may give assurance, in a spirit free from national or sectarian bias, and regarding only the advancement of the Archipelago. In order to do our best to give the Journal a fair start, we shall for a time restrict its size and price, in the hope that it will thereby meet with general support, and should its receipts more than cover its cost, we shall apply the surplus in extending our means of information and giving increased value to it. At first, therefore, it will consist of a monthly octavo of thirty-two or forty-eight pages (according to the number of subscribers) at an annual subscription of five dollars; a price that, in consequence of the high cost of printing in Singapore, and the large number of copies which the design of the Journal will require us to present to Societies, &c., will hardly repay our outlay, unless its circulation be much greater than we can venture to

anticipate. Lithographs will occasionally be given. It may sometimes be expedient to increase the size of a number one-half or even to double it, which will be done without any additional charge. After much consideration a monthly has been considered preferable to a quarterly issue, because, although it may at times compel us to break a long article into parts, it will have the great advantage of enabling us to keep pace with the contemporaneous labours of the Dutch in the Archipelago, and to communicate their results to the English reader at the earliest possible period after their publication in Batavia.

Next, in order to complete the preliminary explanatory observations of the Editor, we shall here also extract the short preface to the first number :

"The design of this Journal has been so fully explained in the Prospectus, that we might have dispensed with any Preface, if we had not been desirous of recording the cordial reception which has been given to the proposal to establish it. In particular the warm interest which the Honorable Colonel Butterworth, C. B. Governor of the Straits Settlements, has from the first taken in the project, and the cordial encouragement and support which he has given to it, demand a special acknowledgement. The Bengal Government have countenanced the work in the manner recommended by him, not only by liberally subscribing to it, but by authorizing every facility to be given for the communication of information by the Officers of Government in the Straits Settlements. From most of the local Authorities we have received assurances of their aid; and the knowledge which they possess, and the opportunities which they enjoy of obtaining information, give a high value to their assistance. Many Residents in the Straits, whose names will appear in good time where we most wish to see them, had no sooner become acquainted with our design than they promised contributions; and the valuable article on Gutta Percha, which we are enabled to present in the first number, with its important and original information, is an earnest how able and willing they are to operate in rendering our countrymen better acquainted with the Archipelago and its resources.

We shall endeavour to keep two principal objects steadily in view. The first is, to present as many papers as possible that are either original or new to the English reader. The second is, to make the Journal a work of reference on all subjects connected with the Archipelago. With a view to

the first object, the papers of contributors will always have a preference. Next to these we shall most largely draw upon the foreign publications in the Archipelago. But as papers of interest relating to this region are sometimes published on the continent of Europe, and remain unknown to English readers, we shall also avail of them as opportunity may offer. For the accomplishment of the second object, we shall from time to time republish papers that have already appeared in English, but may have had a limited or an entirely local circulation, or are no longer procurable. And we shall notice works and papers on the Archipelago and Eastern Asia published in England and America, partly with the same view, and partly to keep all our Eastern readers and contributors informed of every important accession made to our knowledge of the field from which the Journal takes its gleanings. To facilitate reference until a volume is complete, we shall with each number give an analytic table of contents which will serve as the foundation of a full table of contents and index to be issued, with a title page for the volume, at the end of each year.

Unless we adopt a quarterly issue, it will be impossible to give to each number that variety in its matter which might be agreeable to many readers. But for the reason stated in the Prospectus, and in order also to enable us to meet the wishes of contributors when early publication may be an object, we have resolved to commence with a monthly issue. We must therefore request our readers to bear in mind, that the nature of the work requires that it be judged not by a number, but by a volume. It may indeed sometimes happen that we shall be obliged to occupy a whole number with one article, and that on a subject which many readers may not find interest. But we have already besought their toleration of such chances in our Prospectus."

Again, at the conclusion of the first Number, the Editor presents his readers with a "scheme of Desiderata for the Indian Archipelago, &c." The design is to furnish suitable hints and directions to those who, though willing to lend their aid in contributing to the Journal, may "hesitate as to the topics on which they should treat," or who may be ready to plead a "deficiency of practice in observing and committing observations to writing in a methodical manner." The hints and directions for this end are at once seasonable and valuable. If the many intelligent and well-educated Europeans who are every where scattered throughout this vast country, were only in right earnest to fix their minds on any subject which may happen to be a favourite one with themselves, for the purpose of thoroughly investigating it, there is no calculating the amount of interesting, instructive, and useful information which, in the ultimate aggregate, might be accumulated. "There is scarcely," says Sir John Herschell, with equal point and truth," any well informed person, who, if he has the will, has not also the power to add something essential to the general stock of knowledge, if he will only observe regularly and methodically some particular class of facts which may most excite his attention, or which his situation may best enable him to study with effect." His scheme of desiderata the Editor concludes with the following weighty practical remarks :—

"The reduction of every species of information that admits of it, into an arithmetical or accurate quantitative form, although sometimes attended with labour, gives it a far greater value, both for practical and scientific purposes, than if it were merely stated in a loose or general manner. Almost every subject has its quantitative point of view, and if this be neglected, a most important, and, in many cases, the essential, element of its real science has not been furnished. Thus tables of daily temperature, humidity, rain, wind, electricity, &c., are meteorology expressed at large, and the science resolves itself into an exhibition of them by shorter expressions. Every thing physical or moral should be considered descriptively so as fully to express its individual or intrinsic existence, and quantitatively, so as to ascertain its relation to the whole, that is, its importance and influence in the general system of things of which it forms an integral part. Without attending to the summation of facts, no correct view of a nation or country can be presented. It is the association of different physical and moral beings, powers and influences, that gives its distinctive character to a country; and that association cannot be understood without a definite description of each kind of being, power and influence, an approxi

mation to their respective number and quantity, and an estimate of the mutual influence and relative importance of the sum of each. Geography is only a science so far as it strives to attain this estimate. When it shall completely succeed, it will take its proper rank as the greatest of all sciences, because it will be an induction from the results of every other, and furnish true statistical laws for the attainment of the greatest human good in every region. Meantime every contribution of a single fact, or correction of a single error, helps to complete its basis of data."

Lastly, though our present limits will not admit of our noticing any of the articles in detail, we shall as the readiest means of indicating and illustrating the design of the work, furnish the table of contents of the first two numbers :

CONTENTS OF NO. I.

The Present Condition of the Indian Archipelago: 1.-Physical relation of the Archipelago to the Continent of Asia. 2.-Hypothesis of their former connection. 3.-Influence of its geological development on the distribution and form of the islands, on climate, and vegetation, 4.— Luxuriance of the latter, character thereby given to the small islands, 5.— to the mountains, 5-Change caused by volcanic eruptions, 6.-Forests of the Archipelago, 7.-their character, 7.-wild animals, 8.-The life of the sea-marshes, beaches, and banks, 8-9.-Testimony of naturalists to the exuberance and beauty of animal and vegetable life, 9.-Influence of the physical, on the human history of the region,-population an extension of that of the continent, 9-10.-Two great eras in its civil history.—Wild nomades of the forests and the sea, id. Hindu civilization, 11.—Mahommedan, id.-Rise of dominant nations, id.-European influence, id.-Great diversity of tribes, languages, customs, forms of government, 12.-Human and life industry in the Archipelago at the present day, 12-14.-Great piratical communities, 14-15.-Slave trade, id.-Social and personal condition of the inhabitants, 15-16-Present degeneracy of the governments from the influence of the European dominations-foreign elements of changemeans of amelioration-duty of England, 17-21.

Gutta Percha; By T. Oxley, Esq., A. B., Senior Surgeon of the Settlement of Prince of Wales' Island, Singapore and Malacca. Discovery of the Gutta by Europeans, 22.-Botanical description, 22-23.-Range, habitat, mode of procuring, 24.-Properties, uses, application to the practice of surgery, 26.-Great superiority to bandages and splints in cases of fracture, &c., 26-28.-Capsules for vaccine virus, 28-29.-Patents in England for cleaning the gutta and removing its acidity-means of procuring it pure where it is produced, 29.

Some Remarks on the Dyaks of Banjarmassing: character; dress; tatooing, 30.-Ornaments; feasts, drinking; death -feasts, Blians, Olo maga lian, 31.—Omens from flight of Birds-Sacrifices from dreams, 32.-Misfortunes, 33.-Human sacrifices, 33.-Industry, kottas, population of Pulopetak, 34.

Annual Remittances by Chinese Immigrants to their families in China, 35-37.

Shair Bidasari: A Malay Poem, with an English Translation and Notes, 38-48.

CONTENTS OF NO. II.

Details respecting Cochin China: By Monseigneur le Fevre, Bishop of Isauropolis and Vicar Apostolic of Lower Cochin China. Formation of

the Monarchy, 49.-Kings, 50.-Geographical position and divisions, 531.— Rivers, 53.-Mountains, ib.-Minerals, 54.-Climate, ib.-Plants, 56.Animals, ib.-Harbours, 57.-Towns, 58.-Populations, 59.-Taxes, ib.— Inhabitants, 60.-Dress. 62.-Manners and Customs, 63.-Houses and Food, ib.-Condition of the Women, 63.-Arts and Sciences, 65.

Some Contributions of the Natural History of the Rafflesia Patma: By the Heer Zollinger, M. B. S. &c. Habitat, size, superstitions and medi cinal uses by the Javanese, 66.

A Glance at Rhio: By J. T. Thomson, Esq., Hon. M. Newcastle Nat. Hist. Soc., Surveyor to Government: Position, 68.-Shape and Coasts of the Island of Bintang, ib-Description of the town of Rhio, 69.—Gambling houses and policy of Gambling Farms, 70.-Pulo Piningat, the resi dence of the Rajah Muda, ceremonies on the marriage of his son, 71-72Geology of Bintang, 73-74.

Contributions to the Statistics of the Population of Java: By P. Bleeker, Mem. Dir. and Sec. Bat. Soc.; Med. Serv. Neth. India. 75-76. Miscellaneous Notices, Contributions, and Correspondence:

Earthquakes in Java, 77.

The Tin Mines of Malacca: letter from T. Neubronner, Esq., ib.
Gutta Percha: Memorandum by Dr. d'Almeida, 78.

Specimens of Coal from Labuan, Pulo Chirmin, Borneo Proper, and Formosa, 78-80.

Specimens of Rocks from Pulo Ladda, Pulo Lankawi and the Mainland of the Peninsula between Kiddah and Junkceylon, 80-81.

Specimens of Gold from Pankallang Bukit, and of Gold and Tin from Gongong in Johore, 81.

Case of Poisoning by Mushrooms, 81-82.

**Orders and Subscriptions will be received in Singapore, by Messrs. Little, Cursetjee and Co.; Malacca, by Messrs. L. Neubroner and Co.: Pinang, by G. H. Smith, Esq. Calcutta, by Messrs. W. Thacker and Co.; London, by Messrs. Smith, Elder and Co., Cornhill."

Some of these papers are written with great ability, and introduce matter at once interesting and novel. But as we purpose, in due season, to return to the subject, and, in the way of analysis and criticism, present our readers with fair specimens of the work, both as regards the intrinsic value of its materials and the artistic skill with which these may be exhibited, we shall, for the present, conclude with a reiterated expression of our hearty good will towards the undertaking, and sincere wishes for its increasing prosperity. May the Journal of the Indian Archipelago become a worthy and a generous rival of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and earn for itself not a local, not an Indian, but a European and American reputation.

N. B. From the great length of some of the preceding articles, and the obvious undesirableness either of abridging them, or of keeping them back for another quarter, there are several Miscellaneous Notices, for which we can find no room in the present number, and which must now, therefore, be reserved for the next.

SANDERS, CONES AND CO., TYPS, NO. 7, MISSION ROW.