Java Sea

“ Morning came with fine breezes and pleasant weather. At half-past four we saw Winerow Point bearing northwest by west. At seven o'clock we took in all studding-sails and staysails, and the fore and mizzen topgallant-sails. So another day passed and another night. An hour after midnight we took in the main topgallantsail, and lay by with our head to the south until six bells, when we wore ship, proceeding north again, and saw Java Head at nine o'clock to the minute.
We now faced Sunda Strait, the channel that separates Java from Sumatra and unites the Indian Ocean with the Java Sea. ”

“ From Sumatra on the W., Java is separated by the Sunda Strait, which at the narrowest is only 14 m. broad, but widens elsewhere to about 50 m. On the E. the strait of Bali, which parts it from the island of that name, is at the northern end not more than 11⁄2 m. across. Through the former strong currents run for the greater part of the day throughout the year, outwards from the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean. In the strait of Bali the currents are perhaps even stronger and are extremely irregular. Pilots with local knowledge are absolutely necessary for vessels attempting either passage. ”

“ Java (23,868) , the finest island of the Indian Archipelago, lying between Sumatra and Bali, with the Indian Ocean on the S. and the Java Sea separating it from Borneo on the N., lies E. and W., traversed by a mountain chain with a rich alluvial plain on the N.; there are many volcanoes; the climate is hot, and on the coast unhealthy; the mountains are densely wooded, and the teak forests are valuable; the plain is fertile; coffee, tea, sugar, indigo, and tobacco are grown and exported; all kinds of manufactured goods, wine, spirits, and provisions are imported ”

“ But we have reached the most distant point of our journey, and henceforth we shall be homeward bound, taking China and Japan as we go. Java is not so hot as we expected. An island like Cuba, six hundred miles long and only two hundred broad, has sea-breezes enough to keep it tolerably cool. Rain falls almost every day, with an average of twelve feet in a year. As the moisture is excessive, all sorts of vegetation are luxuriant. Java is a gem of the ocean, and an emerald gem at that. Life here is as easy as anywhere on earth, and there is a swarming population. ”

“ In all the wide area between Java and the line of islands east to Timur on the south, and the tenth degree of north latitude, none of those frightful gales known in the Bay of Bengal as cyclones, and in the China Sea as “typhoons,” have ever been experienced. The chief sources of solicitude to the navigator of the Java and the Banda Seas are the strong currents and many reefs of coral.
Our large steamer is little else than a great floating menagerie. We have, as usual, many native soldiers on board, and each has with him two or three pet parrots or cockatoos. ”

“ We steered to the westward along the coast of Java and on the 10th at noon we anchored off Passourwang, a Dutch settlement on the coast of Java, in two fathoms, distant from the shore half a league, the entrance of the river bearing south-west. The coast hereabouts so is shoal that large ships are obliged to anchor three or four miles from the land. As soon as we were at anchor I got in my boat and went on shore. The banks of the river near the entrance were mud, on which grew a few mangrove bushes. ”

“ The east monsoon in the Java Sea.—" During the changing of the monsoons, it is mostly calm or cool, with gentle breezes, varied with rain-storms and light gales from all points of the compass. They are harassing to the crew, who, with burning faces under the clouded skies, [6] impatiently trim the sails to the changing winds. However, the atmosphere generally becomes clear, and, contrary to expectation, the north-east wind comes from a clear sky; about the coming of the monsoon it is northerly. ”

“ This was the last we saw of Java, which, though but one-sixth of the area of Borneo, and one-third that of Sumatra, is by far the most important island in the archipelago. It is to the East Indies what Cuba is to the West Indies. In each there is a great central chain of mountains. Both shores of Cuba are opposite small bodies of water, and are continuously low and swampy for miles, but in Java only the north coast borders on a small sea. ”

“ By its insular situation, the climate of Java enjoys the benefit of land and sea breezes, which in its least favoured parts subdue the fierceness of the tropical rays, while the great elevation of its interior affords the rare advantage, that from the sea-shore up to the tops of the mountains, there is, almost from one end of the island to the other, a regular diminution of the temperature, at the rate of two or three degrees of Fahrenheit for every ten miles. ”

“ Sugar-canes also abound in Java. They have also plenty of vines, which produce ripe grapes seven times every year, but they are only fit for making raisins, and not wine, being too hastily ripened by the climate. The sea, and all the rivers, furnish an infinite variety of the finest fish. Thus, taking it altogether, it may be safely affirmed that Java is one of the most plentiful and pleasantest islands in the world.
Having refreshed at Japara for about a month, Roggewein began to think of proceeding to Batavia, encouraged by the fine promises of the governor-general. ”

“ I left Zeitoon with a cargo of porcelain for Japan, and traded it for gold-dust, and from Japan I went to Chamba to lay in a store of chessmen and pen-cases. And from Chamba I sailed to Java, which is the greatest island in the world. Java is fifteen hundred miles from Chamba, south and southeast, and it took me four months sailing, but a sea-captain cannot pass Java by, for it is the chief place for black pepper, nutmegs, spikenard, galingale, cubebs, doves, and all the spices that grow. ”

“ An important fact in the physical geography of the archipelago is that Java, Bali, Sumatra and Borneo, and the lesser islands between them and the Asiatic mainland, all rest on a great submerged bank, nowhere more than 100 fathoms below sea-level, which may be considered a continuation of the continent ”

“ With human skeletons the whitened plain.”
All the north coast of Java is very low, often forming a morass, except here and there where some mountain sends out a spur to form a low headland. As we neared Madura this low land spread out beneath the shallow sea and we were obliged to keep [56] eight or ten miles from land. On both sides of the Madura Strait the land is also low, and on the left hand we passed many villages of native fishermen who tend bamboo weirs that extend out a long way from the shore. ”

“ A country which abounds in mountains is seldom deficient in rivers; accordingly, no region is perhaps better watered. Java is singularly favoured in the number of its streams. The size of the island does not admit of the formation of large rivers, but there are probably fifty, that in the wet season, bear down rafts charged with timber and other rough produce of the country, and not less than five or six at all times navigable to the distance of some miles from the coast. ”

“ The principal objection that could be made is, that the shores of Java being very flat and level, are not well adapted for building, and still less for launching ships of heavy burthens, but this difficulty may be easily overcome: on the islands before Batavia, and particularly Brunt and Cooke's Island, wharfs, or even docks, may be constructed at little expence. The same may be observed of one of the islands off Japára and at Grésik, besides many other places in the eastern division, in the harbour which is formed by the island of Madúra, and which is sheltered from every wind. ”

“ And it was the opinion of our forefathers, that if the king possessed three fortresses, one in this situation, one on Acheen head, and one on the coast of Pegu, the navigation of the east would in a manner be locked by these keys, and the king would be lord of all its riches; and they gave many reasons in support of their opinions, which we forbear to repeat, and return to Java.
"The island of Java is abundantly furnished with every thing necessary to human life; so much so, that from it Malacca, Acheen, and other neighbouring countries, derive their supplies. ”

“ Acheen to Pegu on one side, and from Tímor to Papúa, or New Guinea, on the other: they constitute on the west and south, as do Bánka, Bíliton, the great islands of Borneo and Celebes, and the Moluccas on the north, the barriers of the Javan Seas and the Malayan Archipelago. From the eastern peninsula of India, Java is distant about one hundred and forty leagues, from Borneo about fifty-six, and from New Holland two hundred.
To what cause the island is indebted for its present name of Java [12] (or Jáwa as it is pronounced by the natives) is uncertain. ”

“ All persons belonging to the coast of Java were strictly prohibited from sailing from any part of the coast where there was not a Company's Resident. No navigation was allowed to be carried on by the vessels of Bánka and Bíliton, except to Palémbang. All navigation from Celebes and Sumbáwa was prohibited, under pain of confiscation of the vessel and cargo. No vessel from the latter place could pass Malacca, and the Company's pass to proceed to Siak was given only once in a year to three vessels from Batavia, two from the coast of Java, and one from Chéribon. ”

“ A strong breeze carried us quickly along; and one morning, when I came on deck, I found that we were standing through the Straits of Madura, the shore of that island exhibiting a belt of the richest tropical vegetation, white cliffs and lofty rocks appearing here and there above it, while the Java coast seemed very low, and bordered by extensive mangrove swamps. As we approached the anchorage, we saw rows of fishing-stakes projecting half way across the straits, and many boats and prahus, and a considerable number of square-rigged vessels, some of them being Dutch men-of-war. ”

“ The smaller rivers of eastern Java are, however, much in the condition of those of western Java. They serve less as waterways than as reservoirs for the irrigation of the fertile plains through which they flow.
The north coast of Java presents everywhere a low strand covered with nipa or mangrove, morasses and fishponds, sandy stretches and low dunes, shifting river-mouths and coast-lines, ports and roads, demanding continual attention and regulation. The south coast is of a different make. The dunes of Banyumas, Bagelen, and Jokjakarta, ranged in three ridges, rising to 50 ft. ”

“ Anjer was the first port of call after the long outward passage; every man who has sailed to the East remembers it with affection. You crossed the Indian Ocean in the 'roaring forties' then swung abruptly north through the southeast trades. At length, one morning, fresh from a three months' chase of the empty horizon, you sighted Java Head, that black old foreland looming out of the water like a gigantic sperm whale; and before the day had gone, you'd entered the Straits of Sunda, with Java to starboard, close aboard, and Sumatra in the distance to port ”

“ The resident of Rembáng, and sometimes of Jawána, are almost the only Europeans who build ships, for it is too difficult and dangerous for others to undertake it, under the arbitrary government at present existing in Java, under which nothing can flourish or succeed. But the Chinese, who are favoured in every thing, are well aware how to turn this also to their own advantage, and to build a great number of vessels all along the coast, from fifteen to two hundred tons burthen, for which they get the timber almost for nothing, by means of renting the forest villages. ”

“ They had now no hopes of being able to find any port for refreshments till they should arrive at the island of Java; as, wherever they might attempt to land, they well knew that their ships would be confiscated, in consequence of the invariable maxims of the East-India Company. All men therefore, but especially the sick and feeble, cast an anxious look on the fertile island now left behind them, presaging the melancholy effects which must necessarily attend so pernicious a measure. ”

“ Good roads run through the country from end to end; European and native rulers work harmoniously together; and life and property are as well secured as in the best governed states of Europe. I believe, therefore, that Java may fairly claim to be the finest tropical island in the world, and equally interesting to the tourist seeking after new and beautiful scenes; to the naturalist who desires to examine the variety and beauty of tropical nature; or to the moralist and the politician who want to solve the problem of how man may be best governed under new and varied conditions. ”

“ Our first Javan port, Tanjong Priok, is the harbor for Batavia. And here the mosquitoes came aboard in hosts so ravenous that they tried to bite their way into the cabins, and so stuck to the new paint. I abandoned the ship. Java may be a perfectly healthy island, and malaria there—as one is led to infer—as rare and inconsequential as falling upstairs ”

“ Since there are about sixty-nine [Pg 2] miles in every degree of latitude, Krakatoa is about 420 miles south of the Equator, and is about twenty-five miles from Java. Java is part of the Dutch East Indies, which includes Java, Celebes, the Spice Islands, and parts of Borneo and Sumatra. Batavia, the principal seaport of Java, near the northwest coast, is a great shipping centre, visited by vessels from nearly all parts of the world. It has, however, no harbor, but is approached from the ocean by means of a canal two miles in length, the sides of which are provided with massive brick walls. ”