The province of Madras is one of the most densely peopled parts of India. The chief commercial products are cotton and teak-wood. _Madras_, its commercial centre, has a very heavy foreign trade in hides, spices, and cotton. The cotton manufactures are extensive. A yarn-dyed cotton cloth, now imitated both in Europe and the United States, has made the name famous. =Kashmir.=--The native state Kashmir, situated high on the slopes of the Karakorum Mountains, is known chiefly for the "Cashmere" shawls made there. The shawls are hand-woven and represent the highest style of the weaver's art. The best require many years each in the making; they command prices varying from five hundred to five thousand dollars. This industry centres at _Srinagar_. =Other British States.=--The Straits Settlements are so called because they face the Straits of Malacca. They include several colonies, chief of which are Singapore, Penang, and Malacca. The Straits ports are free from export and import duties, a regulation designed to encourage the concentration of Malaysian products there--in other words, to encourage a transit trade. The policy has proved a wise one, and the trade at the three ports--_Singapore_, _Penang_, and _Malacca_--aggregates about six hundred million dollars yearly. About two-thirds of this sum represents the business of Singapore. Tin constitutes about half the exports, a large share going to the United States. Spices, rubber, gutta-percha, tapioca, and rattan constitute the remaining trade. Rice, cotton cloth, and opium are the imports. The Federated Malay States, situated in the Malay peninsula, and the northern part of Borneo are also British possessions. Their trade and products are similar to the rest of the Malaysian possessions. =Dutch East India.=--The Dutch possessions include nearly all the islands of the Malay Archipelago and the western part of New Guinea. Of these, Java and Sumatra are the most important. They are divided into "residencies," and the administering officers exercise control over the various plantations. In addition, there are numerous private plantations. The colonial administration is admirable.