chap, vii.] SCENERY AND PRODUCTIONS. 155 



tropics. Its whole surface is magnificently varied with 

 mountain and forest scenery. It possesses thirty-eight 

 volcanic mountains, several of which rise to ten or twelve 

 thousand feet high. Some of these are in constant activity, 

 and one or other of them displays almost every pheno- 

 menon produced by the action of subterranean fires, except 

 regular lava streams, which never occur in Java. The 

 abundant moisture and tropical heat of the climate causes 

 these mountains to be clothed with luxuriant vegetation, 

 often to their very summits, while forests and planta- 

 tions cover their lower slopes. The animal productions, 

 especially the birds and insects, are beautiful and varied, 

 and present many peculiar forms found nowhere else 

 upon the globe. The soil throughout the island is ex- 

 ceedingly fertile, and all the productions of the tropics, 

 together with many of the temperate zones, can be easily 

 cultivated. Java too possesses a civilization, a history and 

 antiquities of its own, of great interest. The Brahminical 

 religion flourished in it from an epoch of unknown 

 antiquity till about the year 1478, when that of Mahomet 

 superseded it. The former religion was accompanied by a 

 civilization which has not been equalled by the con- 

 querors ; for, scattered through the country, especially in 

 the eastern part of it, are found buried in lofty forests, 

 temples, tombs, and statues of great beauty and grandeur ; 

 and the remains of extensive cities, where the tiger, the 



