ls. 1806

Natives. 22,765,977

Total. 23,064,086

With the exception of the Chinese, the great retail traders of the Malay
countries, almost the entire population of the island is "native." This
term includes various branches of the Malay race, of which the chiefs
are the Javanese and Sundanese, occupying respectively the east and west
of the island. Separate dialects are also spoken by the people of
Bantam and Madura. There is little to distinguish the two chief races,
except that the Javanese are more warlike and spirited than the
Sundanese, who are somewhat more dull and almost entirely agricultural.
Speaking generally, the native population of Java is but little inferior
in intelligence to the native population of India, while in some
respects--in particular, in the readiness shown by the native princes to
assimilate European learning and customs, and in a certain artistic
sensibility manifested by the whole people--they resemble the
inhabitants of Japan.

The majority of the Javanese natives are employed in the cultivation of
rice; in work on plantations, sugar, coffee, cinchona, and tea; and in
various lesser industries, such as the making of mats and weaving of
_sarongs_. They are also by no means unskilful as workers in clay, wood,
and metals, and as artisans generally, and are successfully employed by
the Government in working the railways and post and telegraph services.

[Illustration: PALACE OF A NATIVE PRINCE. _Page_ 43.]

For purposes of administration the island is divided into twenty-four
residencies. Each residency is further divided into districts, and
finally into _campongs_, or townships. It will be remembered that when,
at the end of the eighteenth century, the Dutch Government took over the
island from the East India Company, they received possession of the
soil, subject only to such limitations as the company had already
imposed upon their ownership. Since that time the Colonial Government
has pursued a policy in Java similar to that pursued by the British in
India, by which the native princes have been gradually induced to part
with their territorial rights and privileges, and to accept in return
proportionate monetary compensations. At the same time the services of
these "princes" have been utilized in the work of government. As a
result of this latter, the sums paid originally as incomes equivalent to
the revenues derived from the rights surrendered have now come to be