Although in Sumatra no traces of their residence have yet been discovered, except in the language and customs of the people; on Java, which is almost contiguous to it, it is abundantly attested by monuments still existing in stone and brass. In few countries, with which we are yet acquainted, are more extensive ruins to be found of temples dedicated to an ancient worship. If tradition may be trusted, every mountain had its _tapa_, or recluse, and the whole energies and resources of the country would appear to have been applied to the construction of those noble edifices, the ruins of which still strike the spectator with astonishment and veneration. That these splendid and magnificent piles were erected under the superintendance of a foreign people, more skilled in the arts than the rude and simple natives of the islands, can scarcely be doubted; and that they were sacred to the rites of the Hindu religion, according to some persuasion or other, is equally clear, from the numerous images of deities and attributes by which they are adorned, many of which are still preserved in their original state. Further investigation may perhaps establish Java and Sumatra, or rather the Malayan ports (in which general term we may include all the islands containing the Malayan Ports) as not only the _Taprobane_ or _Tapavana_ of the ancients, but also the Sacred Isles of the Hindus. The map of Java which accompanies this work has been drawn principally from actual surveys, many of which were made by order of the British Government on the island. The first map of Java which was presented to the public, and from which nearly all those, which have subsequently been engraved, are copies, was published by Valentyn,[16] and consists of seven sheets. As, at that period, little more was known of the island by the Dutch than some parts of the coast, the country in the immediate vicinity of their capital, with perhaps the province of Bantam, the author had no materials for making a map of the whole island, which could pretend to much authority or value. Most of the land in the immediate vicinity of Batavia having been sold to Europeans, was of necessity surveyed, in order to ascertain the different boundaries; but it was only a short time before the arrival of Marshal Daendels, in 1808, that any steps appear to have been taken by the local authorities, to procure correct statistical and topographical information of the other more important districts of the island. Something to this effect was done during the administration of Mr. Engelhard, late Governor of the North-east Coast, but it was only during the government of the Marshal that these objects were pursued with much energy or success.