e a feeling of profound respect towards the English to be almost
universally entertained in the island to this day.

In the settlement effected by the Treaty of London, in 1814, the British
Government retained the Cape and Ceylon among the Dutch possessions
acquired by conquest in the Napoleonic wars, but Java and its
dependencies were restored to their former masters. A right of
protectorate, however, over the neighbouring island of Sumatra belonged
to the British crown until the year 1872, when it was surrendered in
return for equivalent rights on the Gold Coast of Africa. This
concession has proved a veritable _damnosa hereditas_ to the Government
of Netherlands India. The attempt to enforce the newly acquired rights
over the Sumatrans resulted in the outbreak of the Atchinese war in
1873, an event which has involved the island of Java in serious
financial difficulties, and imperilled the prestige of Holland in the
East.

A great part of the special interest which attaches to Java is derived
from the fact that it has been the scene of an interesting financial
experiment. The history of the introduction of the culture system, and
of its gradual abandonment in recent years, is so interesting as to
require a separate chapter to itself, and it is only necessary to
mention here just so much as is essential for the purposes of a
historical sketch. The author of the proposal was General Van den Bosch,
who became Governor-General in 1830. The system continued in full
operation until the year 1871, when the Home Government passed an Act
providing for the gradual abandonment of the Government sugar
plantations. By the year 1890 sugar, by far the most important of the
Javan industries, was practically freed from Government interference. At
the present time it is in debate whether or not the coffee industry
should be similarly treated.

This short historical sketch would be incomplete without some mention of
an appalling and unique event in the history of the island. On the 27th
of August, 1883, the green-clad island of Krakatoa, which rises for some
three thousand feet out of the waters which separate Sumatra from
Java--the Straits of Sunda--was the scene of a most terrific volcanic
discharge. Whole towns were destroyed in both islands; but even more
striking than the loss of human life and property is the fact, now
satisfactorily established, that the discharge of ashes was so great as
to cause a series of extraordinarily b