SUNDA ISLANDS is a term formerly used to designate the 'elands which inclose the Java Sea (which is also called the Sunda Sea, and is connected with the Indian Ocean by Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra), namely, Jere, Borneo, Sumatra, and Celebes. These four islands are still sometimes called the Greater Sunda Islands. The chain of islands which exteuds from the eastern extremity of Java to the coast of New Guinea, or Papua, are collectively named the Lesser Sunda Islands; so that under the term Sunda Islands the whole of the Indian Archipelago is comprehended, with the exception of the Mulucean, the Sooloo Archipelago, and the Philippines. The Greater Sunda Islands and their dependencies are noticed under separate heads. ; CELEBZ8; JAVA; SUMATRA; I3ANCA ; BILLITON ; M ADD mA.
The Lesser Sunda Islands are situated between 5' and 11° S. lat., 114' and 135' E. long. These islauda were first visited by the Portu guese, who formed small settlements on some of them. The Dutch Etat India Company afterwards occupied them, in order to destroy the cloves and and thus to secure to themselves a i monopoly in the spice trade. The company accordingly prevented other Europeans from approaching these islands, and withheld all information respecting them; and it is only within the present century, since the dissolution of the Dutch East India Company, that Europeans have become better acquainted with them.
The Leaser Sunda Islands consist of four large groups, which from west to east are called the Timor Islands, the Serawatto Islands, the Tenimber group, and the Aroo Islands. The term Leaser Sunda Islands is frequently applied to the Timor Islands alone.
The Timor Group, so called from the largest of the islands, extends from 114' to 127° 30' E. long., and comprehends the greater part of the islands and the larger islands of the whole chain. Between 114' and 119' E. long. it consists of three largo islands, Bally, or BALI, Lomsog, and Sumbawa, which lie west and east of one another. But between 119° and 127° E. long. the islands constitute a double row, of which the northern, lying between 8' and 9° S. lat., comprehends Coined°, Floris, Soler, Sebrao, Lomblen, Pautar, Ombay, and Wetter. The southern row forms a curve towards the south, advauces nearly to 11° S. lat., and consists of the islands of Sumba, or Sandal wood, Savn, Itotti, Simao, and Timor. The straits which separate
these islands from one another are often navigated by vessels bound to or from China, when they reach these seas iu seasons during which the navigation through Suuda Strait is either dangerous or tedious.
The island of Surabaya, or Suru,bawa, extends from west to east about 180 miles, its width varies between 50 and 20 miles ; two large bays, Sallee and Bima bays, enter deeply into the island from the north. The average width may be 40 miles, which given an area of 7200 miles. Along the southern shoree of this largo island extends a mountain range, which begins on the shores of the Strait of Allan (which separates Sumbawa from Lombok), and terminates on those of Sapy Strait. About the middle of this chain, and opposite the Bay of Sallee, which cuts it nearly iu two, is a deep depression in the range, which is not much above the sea-level, and is covered with thick forests. The shores of this mountain tract are high and steep. The retnaiuder of the island is generally billy, but a few of the elevations rise considerably above the rest. The most remarkable of them is Tumbora Peak, a volcano, whose eruption in 1815 is one of the most terrible on record. Its elevation above the sea is between 6000 and 9000 feet. The low and level tracts occupy only a comparatively small part of the island, and they generally occur at the innermost recesses of the bays along the northern coast, and along the Strait of Sapy. The Strait of Alias presents a high and rocky coast, which however towards the north is lined by many low rocky islands. In soil this island seems to be much inferior to Lombok or Bali, but it does not differ in vegetable productions, except that in the forests, which cover a considerable part of its surface, there is a great number of teak-trees. The animals are also the same as iu Bali, but buffaloes are far more numerous. The horses, or rather ponies, of this island, especially those of Bima, are the finest breed in the whole archipelago, and are extensively exported. Gold is collected in some of the small rivers. Pearls are found in Sallee Bay. Some intercourse exists between Bima and Java, and trading boats from Ceram and Celebes visit the port of Sumbawa. These seem to be the only places from which the produce of the island is exported.