The Himalo-Chinese or Transgangetic province shows the characteristics of its avifauna also far away to the eastward in Formosa, Hainan and Cochin China, and again in a lesser degree to the southward in the mountains of Malacca and Sumatra.
The Kwang-tung coast abounds with islands, the largest of which is Hainan, which forms part of the prefecture of K`iung-chow Fu.
The southern and eastern portions of Hainan are mountainous, but on the north there is a plain of some extent.
Canton, Swatow, K`iung-chow (in Hainan), Pakhoi, San-shui are among the treaty ports.
From the peninsula of Leichow on the north it is separated by the straits of Hainan, which have a breadth of 15 or 20 m.