The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-09-20

Though they have always played
part in the poetry and romance of all
lands and were the chief Incentives for
the great voyages of discovery of the
fifteenth century, the East Indies, the
island empire which Is now almost
wholly in Dutch hands, have not often
been. described in modern times In books
accessible TO English readers. They
have been n favorite scene for piratical
and other unlawful adventures, for
stories Of shipwreck and the sea, and
occasionally for other fancles about tho
orient, but the authors Of these have
been careful to avoid too great precision
in their descriptions and have been con-
tent to let the imagination dwell on
picture sque names. Two volumes Of very
different character dealing with them
have come To us AZ once. the thorough
and interesting description Of the island
Of Java. with brief accounts of the other
isla nds. by 4. CAPAToS, which Is now re-
printed as a volume Of n Modern
World series under the title. Jdrd, Su-
matrG and the other Tsidm's Of the
Dutch East indies (Charles Scribner' $
Sons) and the notes on later visit TO
the remoter Islands by an Australas'an
traveller, The Dutch East. by J. MAC
MILAN Brown OKegan Paul, Trench,
Truebner & Co. London. NJ. Cahaton's
book Is in the translation pf Bernard
Mail, with none Of the translator's slips
corrected and with his unnecessary In
| PRODUCTION.
To the ancient world and to the mid
die ages these mythical isles of the
Orient were the lands OF spices, OF gold
and OF pearls II was one of the main
| factors in the wealth and power Of Ven
| ice which did not scruple TO trade with
infidel lands. and II was the hope of
reaching these Indies that sent Column
bus across the Atlantic and the Portu-
guese around the Cape Of Good Hope. II
il difficult for Americans to realize that
for Europe the latter was the more mo-
mentous event: so important that the
secret OF the passage was guarded 1cal-
ously for n hundred years. The trade
that had passed through the Levant 70
Venice was then diverted TO Lisbon and
the West, with the union of Portugal
to Spain under Philip IL. and the revolt
Of the Netherlands against his oppres-
sion came the transfer of the Indies tc
the Dutch. The Dutch found out the
way to the East and sent their fleets &c
the Cape OF Good Hope. to India and tc
the Indian Archipelago. where SPAR
was not strong enough to retain what II
had inherited from the Portuguese. Fol
800 years the Dutch have kept the ISL
ands, practically without interference
after they had abandoned their claims
on the mainland to the English. Fol
the old Dutch East India Company ant
its striving FOR monopoly nobody has Z
word to say now for the present ad
ministration OF the islands by HOLLAND
both writers are full of praise. They
lay stress on the fact that Java, whic'
had population of 100000 at the be
ginning Of tho last century, had more
than 10000. 900 inhabitants In 1900, {
larger number to the square mile thar
Belgium Yet the neighboring island o
Sumatra. four times larger, fully as fer
tile and much richer in mineral wealth
with population that is substantially
OF the same stock, that has been at leas
nominally subject TO Holland for as Ions
a period has only 100000 inhabitants
, The Dutch. 1t seems, from the star
regarded their possessions In the Eas
not as a political power but as bust
ness concern. The East India Com
pany was obliged to use force and al
army TO preserve what II had or I
extend its operations, but did 80 reluc
family. Many barbarous things wer
done of which modern sentiment towar
native races disapproves, though tn
handful Of white men that had 10 dea
with hordes of semisavages could no
always be particular about rheir meth
DDS. When the Government hook I
itself the responsibility some orcefu
vs.,