182 



AUSTEALASIA. 



raw sugars in exchange for cotton goods and hardware. China, the United States, 

 and France also share to some extent in the general export trade. The Javanese 

 sailors are surprisingly daring and agile, swarming up the ship's shrouds almost 

 with the nimbleness of the monkey. 



Topography. 



At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the chief outport was Bantam, 

 situated near the north-west extremity of the island on a well-sheltered semi- 

 circular bay, but obstructed by mudbanks. Here the Dutch founded their first 

 factory in 1596 ; but it is now a mere village almost hidden by the surrounding 

 foliage. Although Bantam has given its name to the province, the capital of the 



Fig. 73. — Lines of Steam Navigation in Indonesia. 

 Scale 1 : 48,000,000. 



^mK 



1,200 Miles. 



residency has been removed to the small town of Serang, some six or seven miles 

 farther south, while the local trade has been diverted to Anjer, which was nearly 

 destroyed by the Krakatau eruption of 1883. 



Batavia, the Jakatra of the natives, present capital of Java, and of all the 

 Dutch East Indian possessions, occupies an area out of all proportion with its 

 population, stretching from the harbour in a straight line for over twelve miles 

 inland. The vast space, however, is not continuously built over, but rather 

 occupied by several distinct quarters, connected together by canals, routes, and 

 avenues. The old town had been founded in 1619 on the coast along the right 

 bank of the Liwong, while the citadel with its four sharp bastions stood on an 

 artificial islet at the entrance of the estuary. Batavia gradually acquired the 

 aspect of a Dutch city with its canals and dykes, its many storied and gabled brick 

 houses ; but a shower of ashes ejected from Mount Salak choked the canals, con- 



