Br THE KKV, J. E, TENIS0N- WOODS. 



135 



a wild atony character is imparted to by far the greater portion of 

 the island, but the remainder or the alluvial plains have a richness 

 with which no country in the world can vie, Thus it is able to 

 Bupport an enormous population for so small an island, there being 

 19 or 20 millions on the soil, and extreme poverty is a thing 

 unknown. 



Climate. — The climate of Java is easily described ; being in 

 the monsoon region of the tropics the seasons succeed one 

 another with perfect regularit}*, alternating between the north- 

 west and south-west monsoons. The first of these is the rainy 

 season which averages about 90 inches per annum, though in 

 particular situations, especially where the climate is modified by 

 the mountains, it is greater or less as in other lands. The 

 temperature seldom rises to 90° and during the day on the plains 

 is about 85° in the shade. Speaking from my own experience, I 

 found the heat of Java more l>earab]e than any portion of tndia 

 or the Indian Archipelago. I believe it is unhealthy, solely on 

 account of the bad systems or no-systems of drainage. The open 

 and foul ditches interlacing the most crowded thoroughfares of 

 Surabaya and Samarang not only account for the insalubrity of 

 the places, but make one marvel that they are not much worse. 

 But Europeans are scarcely able to cope with the apathy of 

 orientals on the subject of sanitary precautions, 



The convenience of having almost a temperate climate within 

 easy reach is found on the slopes or plateaux of the numerous 

 mountain elevations. In this way Java is enabled to have a 

 supply of European vegetables, a luxury unknown almost in any 

 of the other portions of the Indian Archipelago. About 5,000 

 feet above the level of the sea the sIojkjs of countless valleys on 

 the Tengger and Semeru are covered with extensive kitchen-gar- 

 dens in which cabbages of every variety, lettuces, potatoes, peas, 

 beans, cucumbers, turnips, «fcc, are found in great luxuriance. 

 The Tengger is also used as a sanatorium for European colonists ; 

 the Javanese, like most orientals, do not take kindly to climbing 

 mountains. As a rule the climates at this elevation are chilly, 



