INDIAN BEAN INDIAN HEMP 243 peninsula of Celebes, and thence to the Phi- lippine islands. The islands traversed by this belt are subject to frequent earthquakes. The non-volcanic regions lie on both sides of it. There are no volcanoes in Papua or Borneo, and in the latter island earthquakes are unknown. The loftiest mountains in the archipelago are in Java, Borneo, and Sumatra, where numerous peaks rise to a height of 10,000 ft. and some much higher. The climate is one of almost uni- form tropical warmth and moisture, giving rise to a dense and luxuriant forest growth, which overspreads all the islands except Timor and those immediately around it ; in these there is a deficiency of rain, which is attributed to the proximity of the arid regions of Australia. The line of separation between the two great zoological provinces, known as the Indian and the Australian, divides the archipelago, passing between Celebes and Borneo, and through the narrow strait of Lombok. This is but 15 m. wide, yet, according to Lyell, the contrast be- tween the animals on the two sides of this channel is as great as between those of the old and new worlds. W. of it the fauna is strictly Indian ; E. of it a distinctively Australian fau- na is met with ; and it is conjectured that the two great regions thus distinguished once formed parts of the Asiatic and Australian continents respectively. The geographical dis- tribution of the two typical races of men in- habiting the archipelago corresponds closely to that of the animals ; the Indo-Malays being found in the western islands, while the Pa- puans dwell further eastward. Detailed ac- counts of the principal islands of the Indian archipelago will be found under their respec- tive titles. For their general history, see " The Indian Archipelago, its History and Present State," by Horace St John (2 vols. 12mo, London, 1853). The natural history of the region is ably treated in "The Malay Archi- pelago," by Alfred Eussell Wallace (London, 1869). See also "Travels in the East Indian Archipelago," by Albert S. Bickmore (8vo, New York, 1869). INDIAN BEAN. See CATALPA. INDIAN CORN. See MAIZE. INDIAN CRESS. See NASTURTIUM. INDIAN CUCUMBER, a name given to Medeola Viryinica, a common and striking plant of the lily family, which is found in May and June in rich damp woods from Canada to Florida. The remarkably white tuberous root stock is about 2 in. long and | in. thick, and has the taste of cucumber ; it is said to have been eat- en by the Indians, whence the common name. The simple slender stem, 1 to 8 ft. high, is partly clothed with a whitish wool which readi- ly separates ; near the middle it bears a whorl of five to nine obovate, lanceolate, pointed thin leaves ; at the summit are the flowers, imme- diately below which is another whorl of, nsn- ally, three smaller leaves. The flowers (three to six) have three petals and three, sepals, all of the same greenish yellow color, and recurved ; stamens six, pistil one with three long thread- like brownish styles diverging from the top of the globose ovary, which in ripening forms a dark purple berry of the size of a pea. The Indian Cncnmber (Medeok Virginica). botanical name is the diminutive of Medea, the sorceress, probably given to the plant on ac- count of reputed medicinal powers ; it really possesses very little activity, though the elder Barton thought it serviceable in dropsy. INDIAN DYE. See PUOOOON. INDIAN FIG ( Opuntia vulgaru). See CACTUS. INDIAN HEMP. I. A variety of hemp pro- duced in India, formerly supposed to be a dis- tinct species, and called cannabi* Indica. (See Indian Hemp (Apocynnm cannabinuni). HEMP, vol. viii., p. 632.) II. An American perennial herb, apocynum cannabinum, of the order apocynacea, or dogbane family. The plant throws up several branching stems, 2 to
