196 AUSTEALASIA. 



Java and Madura constitute twenty-two administrative provinces, which with 

 their capitals, areas and popvdations will be found tabulated in the Appendix. 



Bali. 



Bali, or "Little Java," as it is often called, is in fact geologically a fragment 

 of the great island from which it is separated by a channel little over two miles 

 wide, and in one place only 53 feet deep. Yet this narrow strait has sufficed 

 to impart a certain local character to the flora and fauna, as well as to the native 

 population. From the historic point of view Bali is, so to say, a fossil Java ; while 

 the latter has become Mohammedan, the former has remained Hindu in religion, 

 customs, institutions, and, to a certain extent, even in speech. Hence the his- 

 torical and linguistic relations of Bali, owing to their unusual interest, have been 

 carefully studied, somewhat to the neglect of its present material and social con- 

 dition. 'No systematic census has yet been taken ; but according to official docu- 

 ments this island, like Java, is one of the most densely j)eopled lands in the 

 world, about 1,340,000 human beings being here crowded together in a space not 

 exceeding 4,300 square miles. 



Bali presents the general outlines of an elongated triangle, with apex pointing 

 towards Java and base turned towards Lombok. Hills of eruptive formation run 

 west and east, disposed in ridges or isolated masses without any apparent regu- 

 larity. Bakungan, the first of the volcanic peaks, rises to a height of 4,800 feet 

 over against the Javanese town of Banjuwangi. The much more elevated Batu 

 Kau (9,700 feet), occupies very nearly the geometrical centre of the island. Its 

 central cone is enriched by a number of lakelets, and north-east of this point 

 stands the still active Batur (6,420 feet), whose twin craters emit columns of 

 vapour accompanied by a rumbling noise. Streams of molten lava flowing down 

 its eastern flank have reached and nearly evaporated a lovely blue lake at its foot. 

 According to the local legend Batur is the abode of a god, whose wife dwells in 

 the waters of the lake. 



South-eastwards follow other volcanoes apparently extinct, such as the Gunong 

 Abang (7,650 feet), and the Gunong Agung, that is, the "Great Mountain," 

 called also the Bali Peak, whose bare yellowish cone rises 10,520 feet above the 

 sea. At the eastern extremity of the island stands the Seraya volcano (4,125 

 feet), now a vast ruin, whose crater and upper parts were blown away during a 

 prehistoric eruj)tion. South of these igneous masses the plains are strewn with 

 volcanic scorioe, beyond which occur a few hills of tertiary formation, such as 

 Badung connected by an isthmus with the mainland, and the insular Nusa Penida 

 or Pandita, that is, " Isle of Priests." 



Despite an abundant rainfall Bali is too small to develop any important run- 

 ning waters, and most of the rivulets even run dry during the south-east monsoon. 

 The surface water is almost entirely absorbed in irrigating the rice-fields, which 

 are carefully cultivated by the native peasantry, and which cover nearly all the 

 productive land. The primeval forests have entirely disappeared, and with them 



