Page:Scented isles and coral gardens- Torres Straits, German New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies, by C.D. Mackellar, 1912.pdf/337

Rh Raffles, which the Netherlands Government are bound by treaty to keep in order. Many people reside at Buitenzorg, which is 45 miles from the capital. The roads about it are excellent, and both roads and railways in Java are good.

Java is 48,638 square miles in area, two-thirds larger than Ireland, and is estimated to have a population of twenty-nine millions—so that it may well be called a rich garden. It has noless than twenty active volcanoes. The mountains rise to a height of 10,000 feet, and Semeru, over 12,000 feet, is the highest. It is 575 geographical miles long, and from 28 to 105 miles broad. According to some, Java was the Garden of Eden, and here, too, rested the Ark after the Flood, and still rests for ever petrified on the mountain peaks. I looked about in the shops for any relics of Noah, but could find none.

The antiquities of Java are amongst the most remarkable in the world. These ancient Hindu temples and ruins of great size and magnificence are supposed to date from 600 A.D. The Hindu influence was destroyed by the Arabs in 1478. Java is mentioned by Marco Polo in 1290, and was visited by the Italian traveller L. Varthema in 1505. The Dutch, under Houtman, landed in 1595, and in 1610 a fort was built by them at Batavia. In 1677 the Dutch enlarged their possessions, and went on acquiring territory by war up till 1830—they had five great wars. From 1811 to 1815 it was occupied by the British, under Sir Stamford Raffles, who did much in that short time.

North and west shallow seas with islets separate it from Sumatra, Banka, and Blitong. The volcanoes are mostly grouped together in a mass. In 1699 Salak, 7266 feet, caused a great catastrophe; it is now quiescent. By the sudden and short eruption of Papandayang, 8611 feet, in 17