sold to Government at a fixed price, began in 1832.
Just before this, in 1826, the population by census was
5,500,000, while at the beginning of the century it was
estimated at 3,500,000. In 1850, when the cultivation
system had been in operation eighteen years, the population
by census was over 9,500,000, or an increase of 73
per cent, in twenty-four years. At the last census, in
1865, it amounted to 14,168,416, an increase of very nearly
50 per cent, in fifteen years—a rate which would double
the population in about twenty-six years. As Java (with
Madura) contains about 38,500 geographical square miles,
this will give an average of 368 persons to the square
mile, just double that of the populous and fertile Bengal
Presidency as given in Thornton’s Gazetteer of India, and
fully one-third more than that of Great Britain and Ireland
at the last Census. If, as I believe, this vast population
is on the whole contented and happy, the Dutch Government
should consider well, before abruptly changing a
system which has led to such great results.
Taking it as a whole, and surveying it from every
point of view, Java is probably the very finest and most
interesting tropical island in the world. It is not first
in size, but it is more than 600 miles long, and from
60 to 120 miles wide, and in area is nearly equal to
England; and it is undoubtedly the most fertile, the most
productive, and the most populous island within the
tropics. Its whole surface is magnificently varied with
mountain and forest scenery. It possesses thirty-eight
volcanic mountains, several of which rise to ten or twelve
thousand feet high. Some of these are in constant activity,
and one or other of them displays almost every phenomenon
produced by the action of subterranean fires, except
regular lava streams, which never occur in Java. The
abundant moisture and tropical heat of the climate causes
these mountains to be clothed with luxuriant vegetation,
often to their very summits, while forests and plantations
cover their lower slopes. The animal productions,
especially the birds and insects, are beautiful and varied,
and present many peculiar forms found nowhere else
upon the globe. The soil throughout the island is exceedingly
fertile, and all the productions of the tropics,
together with many of the temperate zones, can be easily
cultivated. Java too possesses a civilization, a history and
i antiquities of its own, of great interest. The Brahminical
religion flourished in it from an epoch of unknown
antiquity till about the year 1478, when that of Mahomet
superseded it. The former religion was accompanied by a
civilization which has not been equalled by the conquerors
; for, scattered through the country, especially in
the eastern part of it, are found buried in lofty forests,
temples, tombs, and statues of great beauty and grandeur;
and the remains of extensive cities, where the tiger, the