r all except the most hackneyed
excursions--time and money. In Java the former is, if anything, more
important than the latter.

Java--with which is included for all purposes the little island of
Madura, lying off its north-eastern coast--is a long narrow island six
degrees south of the equator. It is 630 miles long, and averages 100
miles in breadth. Its area is 51,961 square miles, an extent slightly
greater than that of England; and the present population reaches a total
of twenty-three millions. Like all the islands of the Malay Archipelago,
its surface is diversified by great mountains (generally volcanic) and
extensive plains. It is poorly supplied with minerals; coal is there,
but not in workable quantities; perhaps the only valuable mineral
products are the clay, which is made into bricks, earthenware, and
porcelain, and the deposits of salt in the Government mines.

On the other hand, the soil is proverbially fertile. The chief products
are best exhibited in connection with the four botanical zones into
which Junghuhn has divided the island according to elevation:

I. From the seaboard Tropical. Rice, sugar, cinnamon,
to 2000 feet. cotton, maize.

II. From 2000 feet to Moderately hot. Coffee, tea, cinchona,
4500 feet. sugar-palm.

III. From 4500 feet to Moderately cool. Indian corn, tobacco,
7500 feet. cabbage, potatoes.

IV. From 7500 feet to Cold. European flora.
12,000 feet.

The climate varies in accordance with these zones. Observations made at
Batavia (on the coast), the only place where a record covering a
sufficient period has been kept, give a mean of 78.69 deg. for a period of
twelve years. The monthly mean shows a variation of only two degrees.
The period from April to November, when the south-east trade winds
prevail, called the dry or east monsoon, is slightly warmer than the
remaining six months which make up the rainy season. The heaviest
rainfall is in the months of December, January, and February. The chief
characteristic of the climate of Java is, therefore, not so much its
heat as its equability: it is rarely wet all day long even in the wet
season, and at least one shower may be expected each day in the dry.

In spite of its great heat Java is generally healthy, and, in cases of
simple bronchiti