POPULOUS JAVA

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24855, 3 March 1942, Page 6

POPULOUS JAVA

; —mf SEETHING MILLIONS AN HISTORIC ISLE EARLY DUTCH COLONY A little bigger than the North Island of New Zealand, but not as large as the South Island, Java, which has been invaded by Japanese troops, supports a population about 28 times that or the whole of the Dominion. Amid these seething millions, Europeans number only 192,571. For the rest there are 40,891,093 natives, who are of ithe Malay j?ace, and 634,700 other Orientals, chiefly Chinese and Arabs. The length of Java, which lies almost due east and west, is GOO miles. In breadth it varies from 40 to 125 miles. Along the coastline a few large bays, protected by islands, furnish safe anchorage for vessels. From end to end of the island there is a mountain chain, named Gunung Kendang, and, especially in the western part, several parallel, shorter chains. There are 43 volcanoes, several of which are still active. The rivers . are generally small, but become torrents when swollen with rain. Only a few of them are navigable. Civilisation The earliest historical references to Java date back to the beginning of the fifth century, although the first important visit to the island by Hindus seems to have been about the year 75 A.D. Marco Polo, the great Venetian traveller, refers to it in the thirteenth century. Java had long attained a high standard of civilisation when the Mohammedans reached the island at the beginning of the fifteenth century, and quickly got a firm footing there. At the end of the sixteenth century, European merchant-adventurers established themselves in Java, whilst the Dutch rule in the island began in 1610. ' Then began a long, tough struggle with the natives, but in the course of time the ’Dutch; gained ground and eventually secured the ascendancy over Java in common with the other islands of the Netherlands ■ East Indies. , . Capital of Java, and also of the Netherlands East Ihdies, is Batavia, on, * the north-west coast of the island. There are three divisions x>f the city—the port, Tanjong Priok, at the head of the capacious bay, the old city oi Batavia, a little distance inland on level arid swampy ground on both sides of the river Jacatra, or Chiliwong, and the modern town of Weltevreden, yet further inland, directly south of Batavia and merging into Meester Cornelis to the south again. Most of the streets, even in the old town, are straight and regular, except in the Chinese quarter,! where the quaintlybuilt houses and the canals which interlace it, serve to give it an appearance something like Venice, The influence of the vertical sun upon these same canals made Batavia proverbial as the grave of Europeans., In old Batavia are also to be seen those buildings which, in former times, the Dutch built in the East as they built in Holland. Very pic- ■ turesque they look with their browntiled roofs, diamond-paned windows,! generally shuttered, and pleasing style of architecture, but they are quite un-s-ited to Eastern conditions, for the ■ climate, of Java, while npt extreme, is oppressive from its uniformity, .and such houses; as these are not the best refuge from the temperatures experienced there. • „ Like Old Holland I Other important cities are Surabaya, capital of one of the flattest residencies in Java, which has a population of about 250,030, and Samarang, on the north coast and 255 miles east of Batavia. Like old Batavia, the European quarters 'of Samarang are patterned on the. Old World, arid.. walking along the (tree-lined streets ; beside its many canals, the visitor might well imagine himself in Delft, in Holland. . The chief wealth in Java consists in its luxurious vegetation. The fauna is not very rich. Tigers, rhinoceros, deer, &nd wild swine are types. met with there. Only a few of the birds are conspicuous for: their plumage, and hardly any are distinguished for thier song. A little gold is found, silver is scarce, salt, a Government monopoly, is prepared from sea-water, and coal and marble are also obtained.

About 40 per cent, of the soil of Java is under cultivation. The land assigned to the natives for their own culture and use amoiints to about 11,000,000 acres. In western Java the prevailing prop is rice, less prominently cultivated in middle Java, while in eastern Java and the island of Madura, which lies just off the mainland north-east of Surabaya, other articles of food take first rank. The agricultural produce grown on the lands of the Government and private proprietors, comprising an area of nearly 4.000,000 acres, consists of sugar, cinchona, coffee, tobacco, tea, and indigo. . ■ '