Java

ja'va, the most important island of the Dutch East Indies. It is the most fertile, the most highly cultivated, and the most densely inhabited island in the archipelago. It is about 660 miles in length from east to west. The area is 50,554 square miles, a little less than that of Alabama. The island is mountainous. The highest summit reaches an elevation of 12,000 feet. No equal area contains so many volcanoes. The soil is rich. It consists of mud--sea bottom, not lava--poured forth from the craters which forms plantations of unsurpassed fertility.

Java is covered with dense tropical vegetation and has long been termed a botanist's paradise. It is classic ground for collectors of ferns. The jungles are so matted with parasitic creepers that it is difficult to distinguish one plant from another. There are many birds of bright plumage, including the peafowl. Over 200 species have been listed. Apes, tigers, leopards, rhinoceroses, and wild cattle are still found. Remains of an extinct animal more like man than ape have been found.

The island is peopled by various tribes of the Malay race with a Hindu admixture. They are nominally Mohammedan. Several thousand make the pilgrimage to Mecca each year. The population at the beginning of the century was 28,746,688. Of these less than 1,000,000 were European and Chinese. In parts there are over 900 inhabitants to the square mile.

The Dutch capital is Batavia. It is a well built city with canals and shade trees. The governor general of the Dutch possessions in this part of the globe lives here. Dutch occupancy dates from the decade of activity in which Jamestown, Virginia, was founded. During the earlier years the mild mannered natives were required to work. The government allowed them food and clothing. All surplus was sent home to Holland. This form of slavery was abolished by degrees. The government now collects a poll tax of forty cents a year instead. Ownership of the soil is retained to a large extent by the government. Fields are let to tenants on long leases. Rice, sugar-cane, maize, cotton, tapioca, vanilla, tobacco, indigo, coffee, and tea are the chief field crops. The famous "Java" coffee for which the island is noted has fallen a prey to insect pests, and the planters have been forced to rely on a hardier variety. The forests yield rattan, pepper, cinnamon, quinine, copra, cocoa, teak, and cubebs. The principal mineral productions are tin, coal, and petroleum. Cloth, tools, and machinery are the chief imports. Trade is open to the world, but is carried on chiefly with the Netherlands. In the more prosperous districts schools are maintained for the natives. Possibly 100,000 children are in attendance.

Owing to the intense heat of the coast the governor general resides inland about forty miles from Batavia, where a city has been built on a mountain slope at an altitude of 700 feet above the sea. This mountain village is the real seat of government. It is noted for one of the finest botanical gardens in the tropical world. There are roadways lined with gigantic trees, draped with climbing vines. The gardens are rich in rattans, orchids, pitcher plants, palm trees, and bamboos. There are lakes and pools in which the lotus, blue water lilies, the papyrus of ancient Egypt, and many other interesting aquatic plants grow. Java has been termed the "Garden of the East," "the most beautiful and fascinating of all islands."