The ocean / By P. H. Gosse.

  • Gosse, Philip Henry, 1810-1888.
Date:
[pref. 1845]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The ocean / By P. H. Gosse. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    335/388 (page 313)
    THE INDIAN OCEAN. The remaining great division of the waters of our globe is considerably less extensive than either of the others, but is scarcely less important, inas- much as it is the pathway of the richest commerce of the world, the highroad on which are borne the gems, and gold, and spices of the gorgeous East. It is separated from the Pacific by that grand as- semblage of islands known as the Oriental Archi- pelago, which, for their immense size, the teeming luxuriance of their vegetation, and the valuable character of many of their productions, have no rivals. The isles of New Guinea, Borneo, and Su- matra are the largest in the world; their soil pos- sesses a fertility that seems inexhaustible; their pro- duce consists of the nutmeg, the clove, and other costly spices; frankincense, camphor, and other odo- riferous gums ; diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones; gold, silver, silks, tortoise-shell, pearls, sandal- wood, and drugs, the most valued of earthly things. It is a singular fact, that at the very same point of time when the genius and daring of Columbus was leading Spain into the possession of a new world in the west, Portuguese enterprise was lay- ing open the still more splendid and gorgeous re- gions of Asia in the east. It was in 1497, that p