122 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGKAPHY AND TRAVEL 



peninsula of Java Ij'ing directly to the south of it, and 

 are increasing rapidly round Surabaya. They exceed the 

 Sundanese in number. 



All these people are of Malay race, and are physically 

 not easily distinguishable from the Malays of the other 

 great islands and the Malacca peninsula, except for the 

 fact of their being somewhat taller. Like all Malays 

 they are of slight build, and Von Scherzer has recently 

 called attention to the extreme fineness of the bones in 

 female skeletons. As regards character, Crawfurd, who 

 had long and intimate experience of them in the earlier 

 part of this century, pronounced them to be peaceable, 

 docile, sober and industrious, and the most truthful and 

 straightforward Asiatic people he ever met with — an opinion 

 that will probably be shared by most of the modern 

 travellers who have known them. They have, without 

 doubt, improved under a settled government, which has 

 given them peace and security ; for an old writer, Bar- 

 bosa, describes them, in the beginning of the sixteenth 

 century, as being " very malicious, great deceivers, seldom 

 speaking the truth, and prepared to do all manner of 

 wickedness ; " and this was no doubt true, as the same 

 terms will apply to many of the Malay people at the 

 present day under the rule of despotic native princes, 

 who govern by favouritism and intrigue, spend their lives 

 in amusements and debauchery, and hold the property, 

 the families, and even the lives of all their subjects at 

 their disposal. 



Java was a populous and wealthy island long before 

 it was known to Europeans, for the Portuguese found 

 there a comparatively civilised people, carrying on a great 

 trade with surrounding countries, which they supplied 

 with rice and native manufactures. The Javanese are 

 good agriculturists, and are especially skilful in irrigation. 



