50S DESCRIPTION OF European woollens form a o;reat article of trade be- tween these islands and the European nations. Until the relaxation of the British monopoly, they continued to be supplied with heavy and high- priced fabrics, neither suited to the climate nor to the means of the people, and, of course, the con- sumption was trifling and unimportant. It is only since 1811- that the importations have become so considerable as to deserve attention in a national point of view. At present the importations into Java, from whence woollens are disseminated throughout the rest of the Archipelago, are very great, and continue rapidly to increase from year to year. The fabrics which are most suitable are the light cheap cloths of Yorkshire, such as cost at Leeds from 5s. to 6s. 6d. per yard. The favourite colours are scarlet, green, "•■' brown, and blue. The liner and higher priced fabrics of the west of Eng- land find only a limited market among the Euro- pean colonists, and a few of the natives of the high- est rank. The market beginning now to be to- lerably well supplied, or the supply being equal to the demand, the consumer becomes more fas-
- The taste of the islanders for these favourite colours did
not escape our early navigators. In Drake's voyage, in Pur- chas, it is said of the Javanese, that " they are wonderfully delighted in coloured cloths, as red and green." — Purchas's Pilgrims, Vol. I. Book II. p. 57.
