The present system of raising a revenue by the cultivation of coffee and sugar, sold to Government at a fixed price, began in 1832.
Just before this, in 1826, the population by census was 5,500,000, while at the beginning of the century it was estimated at 3,500,000.

In 1850, when the cultivation system had been in operation eighteen years, the population by census was over 9,500,000, or an increase of 73 per cent in twenty-four years.

At the last census, in 1865, it amounted to 14,168,416, an increase of very nearly 50 per cent in fifteen years--a rate which would double the population in about twenty-six years.

As Java (with Madura) contains about 38,500 geographical square miles, this will give an average of 368 persons to the square mile, just double that of the populous and fertile Bengal Presidency as given in Thornton's Gazetteer of India, and fully one-third more than that of Great Britain and Ireland at the last Census.

If, as I believe, this vast population is on the whole contented and happy, the Dutch Government should consider well before abruptly changing a system which has led to such great results.
Taking it as a whole, and surveying it from every point of view, Java is probably the very finest and most interesting tropical island in the world.