RECENTLY ERECTED FORTRESSES. 187 



as gatherers of taxes or imposers of labour, but 

 employ the native chiefs for that purpose. To the 

 principal of these they pay large salaries,* and allow 

 considerable state, and much apparent power over 

 their dependants and retainers. To guard, however, 

 against any future outbreak, similar to that of 1826, 

 which was with difficulty finally subdued in 1830, 

 they have erected a chain of strong fortresses from 

 Batavia through the heart of the country to Soura- 

 baya. These fortresses are about forty or fifty 

 miles apart, of considerable extent, and have been 

 constructed with all the strength and refinement 

 of modern military art. How far they might be 

 successfully assailable by foreign invaders, I do not 

 know, but certainly if they resemble the citadel of 

 Sourabaya they are perfectly impregnable to the na- 

 tive population. 



Whether such erections may be necessary for the 

 future security of the Dutch Government in Java, 

 I forbear to inquire, but no one, I think, who has 

 visited the island, and seen anything of the natives, 

 and who has read Crawfurd's and Raffles's books, 

 would doubt that such fortresses would be quite 

 unnecessary for a Government who really had the 

 welfare of the people at heart, and sincerely endea- 

 voured to conciliate and benefit them. Among 

 so docile, amiable, and intelligent a people as 

 the Javanese, gradual conversion to Christianity, 



* The salary of the Regent of Grisek, for instance, not one of 

 the principal places, is ^61200 per annum. 



