A MONSTER VOLCANO.
"Java is by no means a level island. There is a good deal of country sufficiently level for agricultural purposes, but the island has its full share of mountains, and no less than forty-six of them are volcanic. Twenty of the volcanoes are active, and one of them is the second largest in the world—that of Kilauea, in the Sandwich Islands, being the chief. It is known as the Tenger Mountain, and its crater is three miles in diameter, with a level bottom of sand, containing a dozen or more cones that are constantly smoking. The whole island is supposed to be of volcanic origin, and is subject to frequent earthquakes; so that the practice of building houses only one story high is a very sensible precaution. The island has a backbone of mountains, as the principal chain extends from one end of Java to the other. There is another small chain near the south coast; and all over the island there are hot springs maintained by the fires far down in the ground.
"We have already told of the trees and animals of Java, as well as some other things. We will come as soon as we can to the topic that interests us more than any other—the relations between the natives and the Dutch rulers. To do this intelligently, we must go back and see what the history of the island has been.
"Early in the seventeenth century the Dutch began to trade with the native chiefs and people of Java, and obtained permission to build a fort and trading post near the present site of Batavia. In a little while they went to war with the natives; and by the end of the century had obtained considerable territory. From that time on they have had occasional difficulties, and each time when the war was ended the result has been that the position of the Dutch was strengthened.
"They had possession of the island till 1811, when England took it from them, and held it four years. Then it was given back to Holland by treaty, and has remained her peaceful possession ever since.
"The principal exports are coffee, sugar, rice, indigo, spices, tin, pepper, India-rubber, cinnamon, tea, camphor, rattans, and various other things; and the aggregate amount of the trade is very great. Down to the time of the restoration by the English, the expense of maintaining Java had been quite as great as the revenue from it; and it was this fact that made the English willing to give it up. If they had known that it would be made to yield a net revenue of five million dollars a year, over and above the expense of maintaining the local government, they would have thought twice before surrendering it.
"The genius of one man—General Johannes Van den Bosch, Governor-general and Commissary-general of the Dutch East Indies, from 1830 to 1834—brought about this result, and made Java the most profitable colony that any country has ever known.
"And he not only made it profitable to Holland, but prosperous for its inhabitants; while they enriched the rulers, they were themselves enriched. Anybody who has money may benefit the poor at his own expense, but it takes a man of genius to confer an equal benefit on the poor, and make something for himself or his employers out of the transaction. Such a man was General Van den Bosch.
