CHAFTEK Y 
JAVA 
1. General. 
Chief of the Dutch possessions is the fine island of Java, 
situated on the southern margin of the great Asiatic 
submarine plateau. Not only has it been a great source 
of wealth to the mother country, but it is remarkable for 
other reasons. It is one of the few islands of the Eastern 
Archipelago which possesses a history. Its antiquities 
are in point of size not far inferior to the Pyramids, and 
in workmanship far above them. It exhibits throughout 
its whole extent a series of volcanoes of great height, of 
which more than twenty are active,—such a series, in short, 
as cannot be surpassed by any other region of the globe. 
And, finally, its population has increased in a most 
astounding manner of late years, so much so, that the density 
per square mile considerably exceeds that of England, and 
most probably even that of Belgium. 
Java is separated from Sumatra on the west by the 
Straits of Sunda, at the narrowest part only fourteen 
miles wide, and from Bali on the east by a strait not two 
miles across. Borneo lies immediately north of it, at a 
distance of about 200 miles, while due south of it the 
Indian and Southern oceans extend uninterruptedly to 
