Page 9 - The Malaysia mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church

MALAYSIA MISSION

NATURAL FEATURES AND PEOPLE
Malaysia, the home of the Malay, or brown man, hes to
the southeast of Asia, between Indo-China and Austraha. It
includes the Malay Peninsula and the larger half of the islands
of the Eastern Archipelago. The principal islands of this
The Land group are Sumatra, a country as large as the States of
Areas Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas; Java, of the size of New
York State; Celebes, the territorial equal of all New Eng-
land; Borneo, nearly four times as large as Illinois; and all the
hundreds of lesser islands and islets which appear so insig-
nificant upon the map, but which are in reality countries
capable of supporting a large population. The Philippine
Islands are properly a part of Malaysia, but as they are
treated in a separate booklet the}' will not be discussed
further in this one. New Guinea and the islands lying to
the east of it belong rather to Polynesia than to Malaysia;
for the people, the animals, the birds, and even the plants
show a marked departure from the types found in Malaysia.
The land area embraced within the bounds of Malaysia
amounts to seven hundred thousand square miles, a terri-
tory equal to one fifth of the area of the United States.
Much of the country is mountainous. In Sumatra and
Java and in many of the smaller islands there are active vol-
canoes, and these countries are subject to frequent and vio-
lent earthquakes. The climate is hot and moist. The
Climate thermometer stands at about ninety degrees in the shade
the year around. There is no time in the year when it
is safe for a European to go about exposed to the sun be-
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