"Those who have travelled in both Java and India say that the contrast in the conditions of the two countries is something enormous. In Java there is hardly any indication of poverty, and the public works are all in excellent shape; while in India the reverse is the case. Want and degradation are visible everywhere, and the traveller has daily and hourly appeals for charity. Famines are frequent in India, and in the year 1877 more than a million people died of starvation in Bengal and Madras. Famines are virtually unknown in Java, and in case of a general drought to cut off the crops, relief could be carried promptly to all parts of the island by means of the excellent roads that the Dutch have constructed.
"There is a great deal more that we might say, but it is getting near bed-time, and we will stop for the present. The wind sets our candle in a flicker, and it is 'guttering' in a way that threatens to extinguish it altogether. Good-night!"
"GOOD-NIGHT."