The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-09-15
Cur Q9lio.
The Island of Java.


The southernmost portion of Asia runs
out from Siam into a peninsula called Ma
lacca. To the southeast lie the islands
which together form that division of Gee
anica known as Malaysia. Those nearest
to the island of Malacca are called the
Sunda Islands, and together contain be-
tween eighty and ninety volcanoes. The
principal islands of the Sunda group are
Borneo, Sumatra and Java. Borneo is the
largest island on the globe except Aus
tralia. 1t is more than three times as large
as Great Britain, but so much of it is low,
marshy ground, liable to inundation, and
the interior is so covered with dense jungle,
that it has not invited settlers to any large
extent, and the population is not more than
about two millions and mostly half civilized
people. Sumatra lies nearest to Malacca,
and the strait which runs between them
(Straits of Malacca) connects the Indian
Ocean and the China Sea. 1t is $40 miles
long, and from 25 miles Opposite Naning)
to 200 miles broad. Sumatra is about
], 900 miles in length, running east and
west, and its greatest breadth is 240 miles.
It has several volcanoes, which rise from
1000 to II 900 feet above the level Of the
sea. But the great volcanic island of the
Malaysian group lies almost due east of
Sumatra, and is just now an object OF great
interest all over the world-the island OF
Java.
There are about fifty volcanoes on this
island, which is $50 miles long by 30 to
12O miles broad. Earthquake shocks are
frequent, and volcanic eruptions have from
time to time spread death and disaster
around In 1922 an eruption of Mount
Galung-gung destroyed ia villages and
1000 people. In 1843 Mount Gunter
threw out sand and ashes day and night,
covering plantations and villages, and caus-
ing an awful destruction of human life
In 1867 earthquake shocks rocked and rent
the island, and in the town of Jokjokarba
alone thousands of lives were lost. In
1873 and in 1879 there were destructive
earthquakes All the legends of the ma
tives are of terrible disasters occasioned by
eruptions of some of the volcanoes. On the
eastern end of the island, toward the shores
of the Strait of Bali, there is an extinct
volcano. the crater of which forms valley
half mile round 1t is called the Vale
of Poison Birds flying over it drop dead,
and nothing can pass through it and live.
The natives believe it to be the abode of
evil spirits. 1t is vent for deadly gases
generated by the great fires which shoulder
and burn beneath the surface all over the
island. Nota very pleasant place Of abode,
one would say, this island Of Java.
And yet it contains larger population
than all the other islands of the Malaysian
group put together. The great island of
Borneo contains only little more than
two millions of people, and has no volca-
noes. Sumatra is much larger than
Java, and has only two volcanoes, and
not more than five millions of inhab-
itants. Java, third in size of the Ma
laysian group, is 622 miles long, 121
miles broad, and in 1871 contained over
nineteen millions of people, Of these 49,
824,574 were Malays, 20O,3O3 Chinese,
9,610 Arabs and others and 29,99S
Europeans. 1t is the point from which
the Dutch Government rules all its Eastern
dependencies, and it is governed by Re
gent who resides at the capital, Batavia, a
town of Importance on the northwestern
shore of the island Divided into twenty
four Residences, with Governor and in
ferior officers administering the laws in
each, and including the island of Madura,
the island of Java is the most valuable of
all the Dutch dedendencies in the East,
and in the production of sugar, coffee, rice,
tea, and bambo, the manufacture of paper
and various kinds of carved wood work, in
fishing and the shipping trade, the i'm
mense population find employment
The last and most fearful eruption which
has wrought such destruction, occurred on
the extreme western end of the island,
where the Strait of Sunda rolls sixty miles
in width between Java and Sumatra. The
location of the volcanoes which have worked
such awful havoc is the province of Ban
tam which is away up in the west corner.
The southern portion of the coast, which
boarders the strait, is high and rocky, as
cending through the forests of the interior
toward the loftiest SUBMITS where the fires
of the great volcanoes Papandayang and
Cunning Karang burn continually. To-
ward the north there are wide plains ter
minating in extensive marshes which are
washed by the waters of the strait. On
these plains were many villages, and here
was the city of Bantam, formerly the capi-
tai of the province, populous and thriving,
but some years ago deserted for the safer
and healthier location of Serang, where a
large trade is carried on. 1t is the low
land of the province of Bantam which has
been covered many feet deep by the ashes
from the volcanoes, and it was along its
coast that rivers of boiling lava flowed
into the strait. In the widest part it is
onl ly ninety miles across the strait, and it is
only about sixty miles between the two
islands. The depth of water was nowhere
greater than forty fathoms, and the small
islands and rocky islets were numerous, In
the strait volcanic eruptions took place, and
the water boiled and surged as the rocky
bottom was rent and torn by their forces
The route from England and the United
States to Canton, Hong Kong, and Japan
was through the Strait of Sunda, and, now
that the islands which were there have dis
appeared, and new ones have arisen from
the sea, while the depth of water is no
longer known at any point, the trade will
all have to 90 over the old route around
Sumatra and through the Straits of Malac-
ca. All the trade between this country and
the various ports among the PHILIPPINE and
Spice Islands, as well as the great China
trade, will be diverted from the old course
until the Strait of Sunda, transformed by
the recent convulsions, can be sounded and
the charts corrected, The Dutch Govern
ment will not delay this work, and the new
charts will soon be in readiness.
There is reason to believe that the loss
of life will be over rather than under 40, )
900, though of course the exact number