78 TRAVELS m THE EAST INDIAN ABCHTPELAGO. 



the rocks are hard volcanic basalts and trachytes, 

 which resist the action of the sea, and the shore-line 

 is therefore quite regulai'; but in Cuba there is a 

 fringing of soft coral rock, which the waves quickly 

 wear away mto hundi'eds of little projecting head- 

 lands and bays, and on the map the island has a 

 ragged border. In its geological structure, Cuba, 

 with its central axis of mica slates, gi'anitic rocks, 

 serpentines, and marbles, has a more perfect analogue 

 in Sumatra; for in Java the mountains, instead of 

 being fonned by elevations of preexisting strata, are 

 merely heaps of scoriae, ashes, sand, and rock, once 

 fluid, which have all been ejected out of separate 

 and distinct vents. The area of Java is estimated at 

 38,250 square geographical miles; that of Cuba at 

 about 45,000. The length of Java is 575 geographi- 

 cal or 666 statute miles; that of Cuba 750 statute 

 miles. But while tbe total population of Cuba is 

 estimated only at a million and a half, the total 

 population of Java and Madura is now (1865), 

 according to official statements, 13,917,368* In 

 1755, after fifteen years of civil war, the total popu- 

 lation of Java and Madura was but 2,001,911. In 

 a single century, therefore, it has increased more than 

 sixfold- This is one of the beneficial effects of a 

 government that can put down rebellions and all in- 

 ternal wars, and encourage industry. In Cuba, of a 

 total area of thirty million acres, it was estimated, in 

 1857, that only 48,572 were imder cultivation, or, 



* Of this iitimber 37,105 are Europeans; 13,704,535 are nativeaj 

 156,192 (ire Chine,'!© ; 6,764 are Arabs; and 22,772 are from other East- 

 ern nationB, Soe Appendix B. 



