76 MEMOIR OP 



estimated to contain an area of nearly fifty thousand 

 square miles. The western and northern coasts 

 abound with bays and inlets, the maritime districts 

 are generally separated from each other by rivers, 

 those in the interior, often by ranges of hills and 

 mountains ; there arc many excellent harbours se- 

 cure against the violence of the sea and wind, and 

 capable of being rendered impregnable to hostile 

 attacks. 



There are no lakes of any great size, for that 

 name cannot be given to the ranas or swamps, 

 which, though swelled to a considerable size in the 

 wet season, are, for the rest of the year, either dried 

 up, or choked by vegetation. But no region is per- 

 haps better watered, or more singularly favoured in 

 the number of its streams, than Java. The size of 

 the island does not admit of the formation of large 

 rivers ; but there are probably fifty that in the wet 

 season bear down rafts charged with timber and 

 rough produce of the country ; and not less than 

 five or six, the Solo, the Awi, the Surabaya, the 

 Chikondi, &c., are at all times navigable to the dis- 

 tance of some miles from the coast. Along the 

 northern coast, almost every district has its princi- 

 pal river, and most of them are navigable, up to the 

 maritime capitals, for native vessels of considerable 

 burden ; but they all have the disadvantage of be- 

 ing partially blocked up at their embouchures by 

 extensive bars and mud-banks; an evil which is 

 extending with the increase of agriculture, by rea- 



