CHAPTEK V 



JAVA 



1. General. 



Chief of the Dutch possessions is the fine island of Java, 

 situated on the southern margin of the great Asiatic 

 submarine plateau. Not only has it been a great source 

 of wealth to the mother country, but it is remarkable for 

 other reasons. It is one of the few islands of the Eastern 

 Archipelago which possesses a history. Its antiquities 

 are in point of size not far inferior to the Pyramids, and 

 in workmanship far above them. It exhibits throughout 

 its whole extent a series of volcanoes of great height, of 

 which more than twenty are active, — such a series, in short, 

 as cannot be surpassed by any other region of the globe. 

 And, finally, its population has increased in a most 

 astounding manner of late years, so much so, that the density 

 per square mile considerably exceeds that of England, and 

 most probably even that of Belgium. 



Java is separated from Sumatra on the west by the 

 Straits of Sunda, at the narrowest part only fourteen 

 miles wide, and from Bali on the east by a strait not two 

 miles across. Borneo lies immediately north of it, at a 

 distance of about 200 miles, while due south of it the 

 Indian and Southern oceans extend uninterruptedly to 



