78 TRAVELS IN THE EAST INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. 



the rocks are hard volcanic basalts and trachytes, 

 v\rhich resist the action of the sea, and the shore-line 

 is therefore quite regular; but in Cuba there is a 

 fringing of soft coral rock, which the waves quickly 

 wear away into hundreds of little projecting head- 

 lands and bays, and on the map the island has a 

 ragged border. In its geological structui^e, Cuba, 

 with its central axis of mica slates, granitic rocks, 

 serpentines, and marbles, has a more perfect analogue 

 in Sumatra ; for in Java the mountains, instead of 

 being formed by elevations of preexisting strata, are 

 merely heaps of scorisB, ashes, sand, and rock, once 

 fluid, which have all been ejected out of separate 

 and distinct vents. The area of Java is estimated at 

 38,250 square geographical miles ; that of Cuba at 

 about 45,000, The length of Java is 575 geographi- 

 cal or 666 statute miles; that of Cuba 750 statute 

 miles. But while the total population of Cuba is 

 estimated only at a million and a half, the total 

 population of Java and Madura is now (1865), 

 according to ofiicial statements, 13,917,368.* In 

 1755, after fifteen years of civil war, the total popu- 

 lation of Java and Madura was but 2,001,911. In 

 a single century, therefore, it has increased more than 

 sixfold. This is one of the beneficial effects of a 

 government that can put down rebellions and all in- 

 ternal wars, and encourage industry. In Cuba, of a 

 total area of thirty million acres, it was estimated, in 

 1857, that only 48,572 were under cultivation, or, 



* Of this number 27,105 are Europeans; 13,704,535 are natives; 

 156,192 are Chinese; 6,764 are Arabs; and 22,772 are from other East- 

 ern nations. See Appendix B. 



