Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/225

Rh proper marks for safety, the want of one or more is much felt. The scanty provision made by Government for lighting this narrow passage has given rise to reiterated complaints, which, I was led to understand, had hitherto produced no favourable result.

I have often wondered why European nations have never come to a mutual understanding on the subject of providing lighthouses, &c, on such a coast, or in straits virtually under their own dominion, and known to be dangerous to the navigation of the mercantile marine of all nations. If such a treaty were made, it would prove one of the several means we as a nation are always ready to adopt for averting as much as possible the dangers of the sea.