lago, who, in fact, may be said to differ only in being of a smaller size, and in as far as foreign colonization and intercourse may have changed them,

To trace the sources whence this colonization and consequent civilization flowed, and the periods at which it was introduced into different states, is a subject new to the historian, and not uninteresting to the philosopher.

If we admit the natural inference, that the population of the islands originally emigrated from the continent, and, at the same time, the probability, that the country lying between Siam and China, is the immediate source from whence such emigration originally proceeded, the history of the Eastern Islands may, with reference to that of Java in particular, in which a powerful Hindu government was without doubt early established, be divided into five distinct periods.

The first division would include the period commencing with the earliest accounts of the population, down to the first establishment of a foreign colony in Java, of which the written annals of the country make mention. The date of this is pretty accurately ascertained, and may be fixed at about the commencement of the sixth century of the Javanese era, or A. D. 600; at which time only the period of authentic history can be considered to

commence.

The origin of all nations is buried in obscurity; and, unless we may succeed in obtaining new lights from Siam or China, we shall have but little to guide us, during the early part of this division, beyond conjecture, and such general inferences as may be drawn from a similarity in person, language and usages, still found to prevail among the less civilized tribes. According to the division of Sir William Jones, the original population of the islands were doubtless of the Tartar race, and probably from the same stock as the Siamese. The Javans date the commencement of their era from the arrival of Adi Saka, the minister of Prabu Joyo Boyo, sovereign of Hastina, and the fifth in descent from Arjuno the favorite of Krisna, and the leading hero of the B'rata Yud'ha. This epoch corresponds with that of the introduction of a new faith into China, and the further peninsula, by Saka, Shaka, or Sakia, as he is differently termed, and with the chronology of the Hindus,

as explained by Sir William Jones, in which Saka is supposed to have reigned seventy-nine years subsequent to the comBut mencement of the christian era. whether Saka himself, or only some "of his followers, assuming this name, found their way to Java, may be questionable; and it is not impossible that the Javanese may have subsequently adopted the era, on a more extended intercourse with the further peninsula.* A connection would at any rate appear to have existed between Java and Siam; as this Adi Saka is not only represented to have founded the present era of Java, but to have introduced the original letters of the Javanese alphabet, by a modification of the letters used in Western India, and in Siam. It does not appear that either he or his followers established themselves in any authority; and we can trace but little with certainty during the following five centuries. Some of the Javanese accounts refer to the arrival of various settlers during this period; but we find no traces either of a government having existed, or of the establishment of any extensive colony, until the commencement of the sixth century. I should observe, in this place, that the Javanese year corresponds pretty nearly with the Hindu year of Salivarna; and that the word Saka, in Sanscrit, means an epoch or era, and is applied to the founder of an era.

The Javanese occasionally use the numerals for recording dates; but more generally, and particularly in dates of importance, they adopt an hieroglyphical invention, termed "Chondro Sangkolo," in which the different numerals, from one to ten, are represented by particular objects. This is either effected, in buildings and sculpture, by the actual representations of these objects; or, in writing, by the insertion of their names, the meaning frequently having some allusion to the fact which the date records: thus, the date of the destruction of Majapahit, in the Javanese year 1400, is recorded as follows, the order of the numerals being reversed :Sirna ilang Kertaning-Burni. Gone-gone-is the work-of the land,

lization introduced by them into the different islands.

This period will commence from the arrival of Awap, the reputed son of Balia Atcha, sovereign of Kudjiràt, who came in search of a celebrated country, described in the writings of Saka; and who, under the name of Sewelo Cholo, established the first regular monarchy of which the Javanese annals make mention; and include the adventures of the celebrated Panji, the pride and admiration of succeeding ages. Our attention would also be directed, in a particular manner, to the intercourse between Java and the other islands, and the nature and extent of the foreign establishments formed by Java. Tradition, and the popular romances of the country, represent, not only the kingdoms of Goa and Luhu in Celebes, but even the kingdom of Menangkabaú, in Sumatra, to have been established about the conclusion of this period, by princes from Java.

The third division would include the period from the above date to the final overthrow of the second Eastern Empire, in the Javanese year 1400. Some idea may be formed of the power and opulence of this second empire, established at Majapahit, from the extensive ruins of that city, still extant. These I took an opportunity of visiting during my late tour; and I believe I am within the mark, when I represent the walls to have enclosed a space of upward of twenty miles in circumference.

Within this period will be included the establishment of the Western Empire at Pajajaran, the subsequent division of the island under the princes of Majapahit and Pajajaran, the eventual supremacy of Majapahit, and the final overthrow of the government and ancient institutions of the country, by the general establishment of the Mahometan faith.

It is during this period that Java may be said to have risen to the highest pitch of her civilization yet known, and to have commanded a more extensive intercourse, throughout the archipelago, than at any former period. Colonies from Java were successively planted in Sumatra, the Malayan peninsula, Borneo and Bali, the princes of which countries still trace their descent from the house Majapahit; and that adventurers from Western India,

from Siam, from Champa, from China and from Japan, frequented Java in the greatest number. But the object of the first importance will be, to trace the introduction, progress and final establishment of the Mahometan faith in the various countries where it now is acknowledged as the established religion, and particularly in Java, where we find, that notwithstanding attempts to make proselytes were as early as the commencement of the twelfth century, such was the attachment of the people to their ancient faith and institutions, that these efforts did not effectually succeed till the latter end of the fifteenth century of the Christian era.

A fourth division would commence with the establishment of the Mahometan government in Java, and might be brought down to the establishment of the Dutch in the Eastern Seas, which may be taken as A. D. 1600; and a fifth, and by no means uninteresting period, might include the history of the European establishments, down to the conquests by the British arms in 1811.

The further prosecution of this extensive inquiry would lead me beyond the limits at present prescribed; and I must, therefore, conclude with drawing your attention to the striking similarity between the early state of Greece, and that of the Malayan islands. Change but the names, and the words of Mitford's Introduction to his History of Greece will be found equally applicable to this more extensive archipelago.

"Thus," he observes, "Greece in its early days, was in a state of perpetual marauding and piratical warfare; cattle, as the great means of subsistence, were first the great object of plunder: then, as the inhabitants of some parts by degrees settled to agriculture, men, women and children were sought for as slaves. But Greece had nothing more peculiar than its adjacent sea, where small islands were so thickly scattered, that their inhabitants, and in some measure those of the shores of the surrounding continents also, were mariners by necessity. Water expeditions therefore were soon found most commodious for carrying off spoil. The Greeks, moreover, in their more barbarous state, became acquainted with the precious metals; for, the Phoenicians,

whose industry, ingenuity and adventurous spirit of commerce led them early to explore the further shores of the Mediterranean, and even to risk the dangers of the ocean beyond, discovered mines of gold and silver in some of the islands of the Ægean; and, on its northern coast they formed establishments in several of the islands, and Thasus, which lay convenient for communication with the most productive mines, became the seat of their principal factory. Thus was offered the most powerful incentive to piracy, in a sea whose innumerable islands and ports afforded singular opportunity for the practice. Perhaps the conduct of the Phoenicians, towards the uncivilized nations among whom the desire of gain led them, was not always the most upright or humane; hostilities would naturally ensue, and hence might first arise the estimation of piracy which long prevailed among the Greeks as an honourable practice."

Java has long been advanced beyond that state in which piracy and robbery are held to be honourable in the eyes of men; but the picture will be found pretty correct of those islands strictly denominated Malayan.

The superior and extraordinary fertility of the soil may serve to account for the extensive population of Java, compar edwith that of the other islands; and, when, to the peaceable and domestic habits of an agricultural life, are added the facilities for invasion along an extensive line of coast, accessible in every direction, it will not have been surprising that she should have fallen an easy prey to the first invader. She appears to have lost, by these invasions, much of that martial spirit and adventurous enterprize which distinguishes the population of the other isles; but, at the same time, to have retained, not only the primitive simplicity of her own peculiar usages, but all the virtues and advantages of the more enlightened institutions which have been introduced at different periods from a foreign source. At all events, when we consider that her population cannot be less than four millions, and when we witness the character and literature of the people as it is even now exhibited, we must believe that Java had once attained a far higher degree of

civilization than any other nation in the southern hemisphere.

JAPAN.

You will, however, expect, from me some notice regarding Japan-" that celebrated and imperial island," which, to use the words of Sir William Jones, bears " a pre-eminence among eastern kingdoms, analogous to that of Britain among the nations of the west," and, however slender may have been the information procured, such as it is, I venture to submit it to you, nearly as I received it from the verbal communications of Dr. Ainslie.

It may be satisfactory and gratifying in the first place to observe, that every information which has been obtained, tends to confirm the accuracy, the ability, and the impartiality of Kæmpfer, whose account of Japan is perhaps one of the best books of the kind that ever was written, considering the circumstances under which he was sent. I am assured that there is not a misrepresentation throughout; he was a man, of minute accuracy and felicity of talent, who saw every thing as it was, and not through the mist or medium of any preconception. The Japanese observe of him, that he is, in his History," the very apostle of their faith," from whose works alone they know even their own country. Their first enquiry was for a copy of Kæmpfer; and, endeavouring to evince the estimation in which this author was heid by them, their observation literally was, that "He had drawn out their heart from them, and laid it palpitating before us, with all the movements of their government, and the actions of their men!"

Referring you therefore, to the works of Kæmpfer for an account of their history, institutions, and acquirements, as the genuine data on which this interesting people may be appreciated, I need only offer a few notices on the character which they appeared to Dr. Ainslie to display, during a residence of four months, and as far as he had an opportunity of judging.

They are represented to be a nervous, vigorous people, whose bodily and mental powers assimilate much nearer to those of Europe than what is attributed to Asiatics in general. Their features are masculine and perfectly European,

with the exception of the small lengthened Tartar eye, which almost universally prevails, and is the only feature of resemblance between them and the Chinese. The complexion is perfectly fair, and indeed blooming; the women of the higher classes being equally fair with Europeans, and having the bloom of health more generally prevalent among them than usually found in Europe.

For a people who have had very few, if any external aids, the Japanese cannot but rank high in the scale of civilization. The traits of a vigorous mind are displayed in their proficiency in the sciences, and particularly in metaphysics and judicial astrology. The arts they practice speak for themselves, and are deservedly acknowledged to be in a much higher degree of perfection than among the Chinese, with whom they are by Europeans so frequently confounded; the latter have been stationary at least as long as we have known them, while the slightest impulse seems sufficient to give a determination to the Japanese character, which would progressively improve until it attained the same height of civilization with the European. Nothing indeed is so offensive to the feelings of a Japanese as to be compared in any one respect with the Chinese, and the only occasion on which Dr. Ainslie saw the habitual politeness of a Japanese ever surprized into a burst of passion was, when, upon a similitude of the two nations being unguardedly asserted, the latter laid his hand upon his sword!

The people are said to have a strong inclination to foreign intercourse, notwithstanding the political institutions to the contrary; and perhaps the energy which characterizes the Japanese character cannot be better elucidated, than by that extraordinary decision which excluded the world from their shores, and confined within their own limits a people who had before served as mercenaries throughout all Polynesia, and traded with all nations-themselves adventurous navigators.

There is by no means that uniformity among them which is observed in China, where the impression of the government may be said to have broken down all individuality and left one Chinese the counterpart of another. Unlike the Chinese,

the women here are by no means secluded—they associate among themselves, like the ladies of Europe. During the residence of Dr. Ainslie, frequent invitations and entertainments were given; on these occasions, and at one in particular, a lady from the court of Jeddo is represented to have done the honours of the table with an ease, elegance, and address that would have graced a Parisian. The usual dress of a Japanese woman of middle rank costs perhaps as much as would supply the wardrobe of an European lady of the same rank for twenty years.

The Japanese, with an apparent coldness, like the stillness of the Spanish character, and derived nearly from the same causes, that system of espionage, and that principle of disunion, dictated by the principles of both governments; are represented to be eager för novelty, and warm in their attachments; open to strangers, and, abating the restrictions of their political institutions, a people who seem inclined to throw themselves into the hands of any nation of superior intelligence. They have at the same time a great contempt and disregard of every thing below their own standard of morals and habits, as instanced in the case of the Chinese.

This may appear to be contradicted by the mission from Russia in 1814, under Count Kreusenstern; but the circumstances under which that mission was placed should be considered. From the moment of their arrival they were under the influence of an exclusive factor, who continued to rain upon them every possible ignominy which can be supposed to have flowed from the despotism of Japan, through the medium of an interested and avaricious man, who dreaded competition or the publication of his secret. The warehouse in which the Russian mission had been lodged was pointed out to Dr. Ainslie, who observes, that, as the rats were let out the Count and his suite were let in, where they remained for six long months, with scarce room to turn; the mark of obloquy to the Japanese, and the laughing stock of the European factory." So lively, indeed, was the impression of the occurrence, that the chief Japanese officer asked the English commissioner if he too would condescend to play the part