JAVA 103 



than 50 miles wide, mountainous in the centre, but with 

 plains both on the north and south coasts. Here the 

 mountains exceed 10,000 feet. Then comes a portion 

 which is about 100 miles wide, as far as Surabaya, at 

 which spot an extensive valley nearly crosses the island. 

 Beyond this the eastern end is only 50 miles wide, yet 

 it contains the great mountain of Semeru, over 12,000 

 feet in height, and the highest m all Java. Dr. Junghuhn 

 estimated the mean height of the island at about IGOO 

 feet. 



The island of Madura forms one of the " Eesidencies " 

 of Java, and is always grouped with it in Dutch statistics. 

 a position which physical geography tells us it has every 

 right to occupy, for it has undoubtedly been separated 

 from the main island at no very distant geological date. 



2. History. 



Although from a very early period Java has been the 

 seat of a more or less advanced civilisation, the records 

 concerning it are remarkably scanty. It is probable that 

 the Hindus established themselves upon the island about 

 the sixth century of our era, but even this indefinite date 

 is at best conjectural, and the date of the construction of 

 their great temples, whose ruins still remain to astonish 

 the traveller by their size and magnificence, is likewise in 

 many instances doubtful or unknown. It is, however, a 

 tolerably well established fact that the death-blow to 

 Hindu influence was inflicted in 1478, when Majapahit, 

 near Surabaya, the capital of the chief Hindu state, was 

 destroyed by the Arab traders who had established them- 

 selves upon the coast. Still, nothing much more was 

 known of the island for a long period, and though Marco 



