76 
MEMOIR OF 
estimated to contain an area of nearly fifty thousand 
square miles. The western and northern coasts 
abound with bays and inlets, the maritime districts 
are generally separated from each other by rivers, 
those in the interior, often by ranges of hills and 
mountains ; there are many excellent harbours se- 
cure against the violence of the sea and wind, and 
capable of being rendered impregnable to hostile 
attacks. 
There are no lakes of any great size, for that 
name cannot be given to tlie ratvas or swamps, 
wliich, though swelled to a considerable size in the 
wet season, are, for the rest of the year, either dried 
up, or choked by vegetation. But no region is per- 
haps better watered, or more singularly favom'ed in 
the number of its streams, than .Java. The size of 
the island does not admit of the formation of large 
rivers ; but there are probably fifty that in the wet 
season bear down rafts charged with timber and 
rough produce of the country ; and not less than 
five or six, the Solo, the Awi, the Surabaya, the 
Chikondi, &c., are at all times navigable to the dis- 
tance of some mUes from the coast. Along the 
northern coast, almost every district has its princi- 
pal river, and most of them are navigable, up to the 
maritime capitals, for native vessels of considerable 
burden ; but they all have the disadvantage of be- 
ing partially blocked up at their embouchures by 
extensive bars and mud-banks ; an evil which is 
extending with the increase of agriculture, by rea- 
