The totally unprotected state of our commerce, from the cape of Good Hope to Japan, deserves the _immediate_ and _constant_ protection and attention of the American government. The silkworm has never succeeded well, owing to the want of common information or gross negligence; therefore the chief material of Javan clothing is cotton. The favourite cloth made in the country is called batik, of which they make their sarongs, or loose clothes, which extend from the waist nearly to the ankles. If it is intended to ornament the cloth with one or more patterns, it is first steeped in cunjee, or rice-water, to prevent the colours from running; it is then dried and calendered; hot wax is then distributed over it, from a vessel, running through a small tube; the pattern is then formed by being traced, or etched over with a pointed stick. Every part which is intended to be white, is left covered with wax. It is then dipped once or more in the die, or else the die is placed on with a pencil. If two or more colours are intended, every part of the ground, excepting the new figure, is covered with wax, and so on till the whole figure is finished: the wax is then melted off in hot water. The figures have a velvet appearance, the edges of the different colours lessening in brightness. The only permanent colours are blue and scarlet, or red. They stamp palempores, or coverlids, with carved wooden blocks. The English imitation cottons, readily fading, have been brought into disrepute. The kris, or kreese, is universally worn; and the value and beauty of the weapon, are a test of the rank or wealth of the wearer. In full dress, two are frequently worn, and sometimes even four: it seems to be an indispensable part of their dress. It is an instrument more suitable for assassination than for war. Neither the nutmeg, clove, nor cinnamon, is indigenous; those which have been cultivated, are found to have thriven very well. But it does not comport with the views of the government to extend the cultivation of spices in Java: it is even in contemplation to destroy the rice plantations on Sumatra, in the neighbourhood of Bencoolen. The vine was extensively cultivated in some of the eastern provinces; but the growth of it was discouraged by the government, as it interfered, at that time, with the Dutch possessions at the cape of Good Hope. The soap-tree, of which the kernel is used in washing; the cotton-tree, the wax and caoutchouc, or the tree which yields the gum-elastic, and the bamboo and rattan, are common. The cocoa-nut, and gomuti-palms, are also very abundant, &c., &c. [Sidenote: FRUITS OF JAVA.]