Few countries can boast of roads, either of a better description, or of a greater extent, than some of those in Java. A high post road, passable for carriages at all seasons of the year, runs from _Anyer_, on the western side of Bantam, to within twenty miles of _Bányuwángi_, the eastern extremity of the Island, being a distance of not less than eight hundred English miles. Along this road, at intervals of less than five miles, are regular post stations and relays of carriage horses. A portion of it towards the west, which proceeded into the interior, and passed over some high and mountainous tracts, was found to occasion great delay and inconvenience to passengers, and to impose an oppressive duty upon those inhabitants, who, residing in the neighbourhood, were obliged to lend the use of their cattle, or the assistance of their personal labour, to aid carriages in ascending the steeps; this part of the line has therefore been abandoned, and a new road has recently been constructed along the low lands, from _Batavia_ to _Chéribon_, by which not only the former inequalities are avoided, but a distance of fifty miles is saved. This route is now so level, that a canal might easily be cut along its side, and carried on nearly through all the maritime districts of the eastward, by which the convenience of inland navigation might be afforded them, for conveying the commodities continually required for the consumption and exportation of the capital. Besides this main road from one extreme to the other, there is also a high military road, equally well constructed, which crosses the Island from north to south, leading to the two native capitals of _Súra-kérta_ and _Yúg'ya-kérta_, and consequently to within a few miles of the South Sea. Cross roads have also been formed wherever the convenience or advantage of Europeans required them; and there is no part of the Island to which the access is less difficult. But it is not to be concluded, that these communications contribute that assistance to agriculture or trade on Java, which such roads would afford in Europe: their construction has, on the contrary, in many instances, been destructive to whole districts, and when completed by his own labour, or the sacrifice of the lives of his neighbours, the peasant was debarred from their use, and not permitted to drive his cattle along them, while he saw the advantages they were capable of yielding reserved for his European masters, that they might be enabled to hold a more secure possession of his country. They were principally formed during the blockade of the Island, and were intended to facilitate the conveyance of stores, or the passage of troops necessary for its military defence. The inhabitants, however, felt the exclusion the less, as good inferior roads were often made by the side of these military roads, and bye-roads branched off through all parts of the country, so that the internal commerce met with no impediment for the want of direct or