40 
DUTCH COLONIAL SYSTEM. 
one apart from the rest of the world, with its 
own races of men and its own aspects of nature ; 
with its own ideas, feelings, customs, and modes 
of speech, and with a climate, vegetation, and 
animated life altogether peculiar to itself.” 
Although I had read that this archipelago 
contains three islands larger than Great Britain, 
and that it would stretch over an expanse equal 
to that of all Europe from the extreme west far 
into Central Asia, the associations of my child- 
hood have so chained my mind, that till now 
I have been unable to dissever the tiny specks 
depicted on the map between Asia and Australia 
from their Liliputian proportions. 
Holland adopts a different system from our 
own in her subject possessions. She accommo- 
dates herself to the natives, conducting inter- 
course of all kinds in their language. The con- 
struction of the Malay tongue is most simple, 
and I find it exceedingly pleasant to the ear; 
there are, besides, no impossible sounds. I have 
seldom heard the Javanese language ; it is much 
more difficult to acquire, but has a more elegant 
and refined sound. 
We are now nearing Macassar. The Da 
Fran£a family are our constant companions, 
H. speaks a little Portuguese, while they all 
