2 TRINIDAD. 



cultural economy of the Eastern, Indian corn of the Western, 

 Archipelago. 



The isles of the East do not import food, but manufactured 

 goods only ; Java even exports rice. The isles of the West, on 

 the contrary, import an immense quantity of alimentary articles. 

 This is, again, an advantage the former enjoy over the latter. 

 The evils arising from such an anomalous position will not be felt 

 so long as the population remains scant or limited, and high 

 money- wages are afforded; but should it become more dense, and 

 the same plan be persisted in, the most distressing results may be 

 predicted — amongst others, starvation and its concomitant miseries 

 will be the consequence, unless the cultivation of the " ground- 

 provisions" be pursued on a sufficiently extensive scale. 



The Eastern Archipelago lies within the tropics, between 19° 

 N. and 11° S. latitude, and between 95° and 135° E. longitude. 

 Its area maybe estimated at about 392,000 square miles; that of 

 the Western at about 105,000. The islands of the East, such as 

 Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Celebes, Luzon, are generally of larger 

 dimensions than those of the West. 



The total population of the Eastern Archipelago may be com- 

 puted at 23,000,000 inhabitants, or at the rate of 58' 67 to the 

 square mile ; that of the Western, at about 3,113,000, or 31'13 to 

 the square mile. Several races inhabit the Eastern Archipelago, 

 viz., the Javano-Malayan and the Hindoo, both of which are 

 again subdivided into many tribes ; the Chinese, and also a few 

 Arabians. The prevailing religion is Mahommedan; large numbers 

 of Christians, however, are found in the Spanish, Portuguese, 

 Dutch, and, latterly, the British colonies. The Chinese and 

 Hindoos still adhere to Buddhism and Brahminism. Not exactly 

 slavery, but serfdom exists everywhere, the seigneurial rights of 

 all territory being vested in the sovereigns or hereditary chiefs, 

 and despotism is the only prevailing form of government. 



The Western Archipelago is, at present, inhabited by two 

 races, the aborigines or Indian stock being almost entirely extinct. 

 Those two races are the European and the African ; widely dif- 

 ferent in origin, external appearance, and also in habits and pre- 

 judices. The representatives of the former are immigrants from 

 Europe ; the latter, imported labourers from Africa. The Afri- 

 cans, whilst Europeans continued to be slaveholders, were, for a 

 long time, degraded under the worst form of slavery; but, at the 

 present period, unconditional freedom, and such as was never 

 known to exist in any Asiatic kingdom, practically exists in nearly 

 all the Western isles, and Christianity may be said to form the 

 sole prevailing religion. 



In proportion as the natural resources of the Eastern islands 

 become more accessible, a vast aggregate of industrious immi- 



