290 
VOYAGE Ot" THE POTOMAC. 
[March, 
civilized, half savage people, are limited in their knowledge ©f 
those arcana on which alone its success and prosperity generally 
depend ; and were this not the case, they would stand but little 
chance in competition with the Dutch colonists, who directly or 
indirectly command all the resources of the island. The Javans 
were by nature intended for a mercantile people ; and, in obedi- 
ence to her dictates, they opened, at a very early period, a com- 
mercial intercourse with merchants of the continent for the inter- 
change of articles, to supply their mutual wants ; the manufactures 
of India and China being received in payment for the natural 
productions of Java. To this intercourse, and to the fertility of 
the soil, which soon rendered the island an agricultural country, 
may be attributed the high degree of civilization and of advance- 
ment in the arts, which it is evident it once attained ; for the arts 
and sciences ever follow in the train of commerce. 
" Gay commerce waved her flag, her sails unfurled, 
And dove-eyed science civilized the world." — Fay. 
Japora, a seaport on the northeast of the island, with a gootl 
harbour, was the capital of a considerable kingdom when the 
Dutch first established themselves at Java. At that time three 
hundred merchant vessels, none of which were less than two 
hundred tons, were accustomed to sail to and from that port alone. 
Like every thing else, this trade also fell into the hands of the 
all-grasping Dutch colonists ; and from that period may be dated 
the decline and fall of Javanese commerce. No doubt that it had 
been carried on principally in foreign bottoms, and under different 
flags. So much the better ; the Javans were never intended for 
daring maritime adventurers, but for a quiet agricultural people ; 
and their country has long been considered as the granary of the 
eastern islands.* 
The native internal and coasting trade of the Javans is still 
considerable. The produce and manufactures of the country are 
conveyed from one district to another, and to the principal sea- 
* " They contented themselves with enjoying all the advantages of a trade in which 
they incurred no chance of loss ; and thus, though their own country yielded neither 
gold nor jewels, they are said to have been plentifully suppKed with these and other 
valuable articles on their own shores, in exchange for the produce of their tranx^uil 
industiy and their fertile soil." — Raffles'' History of Java. 
