except the kings of Bantam and Japara,[2]
who do not acknowledge his authority. The country produces in
abundance all the necessaries of life, as also great quantities of
those valuable productions which form its commerce. It is interspersed
by many mountains, rivers, and woods, to all of which nature has
bestowed her treasures with a bountiful hand. There are gold-mines in
some parts of the country, and for some years the government caused
the mountains of _Parang_ to be wrought, in hopes of reaping profit;
but, after expending a million, the marcasites were found not to
be fully ripened.[3] Those who directed this enterprise were much
censured, and the works have been long discontinued. Some are
thoroughly satisfied that the natives find considerable quantities
of gold in several places, which they carefully conceal from the
knowledge of the Dutch. During the last war in Java, which continued
from 1716 to 1721, the inhabitants of some parts of the country were
so often plundered that they were reduced to absolute beggary; yet,
after a year's peace, they were observed to have grown excessively
rich, having plenty of gold, both in dust and ingots.

[Footnote 2: There is some strange error here, which we do not presume
to correct or explain. In the former section, the king of _Japara_ is
said to reside chiefly at _Kattasura_, which in the present instance
is said to be the residence of the emperor. In an after division of
this collection, more ample and distinct accounts will be found of
this rich island, now subject to Britain.--E.]

[Footnote 3: In plain English, the mineral, or ore, was so poor as not
to defray the expence of extracting the metal.--E.]

The mountains of Java are very high, so that many of them can be seen
at the distance of thirty or forty leagues. That which is called the
_Blue Mountain_ is by far the highest, being seen from the greatest
distance at sea. Java is subject to frequent and terrible earthquakes,
which the inhabitants believe are caused by the mountain of Parang,
which is full of sulphur, salt-petre, and bitumen, which take fire by
their intestine commotions, causing a prodigious struggle within the
bowels of the earth, whence proceeds the earthquake; and they assert
that it is common, after an earthquake, to see a vast cloud of smoke
hanging over the top of that mountain. About thirty years before
Roggewein was in Batavia, Mynheer Ribeck, then governor-general, went
with many attenda