Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

EIVEES OF JAVA.U18and, after escaping from the Randong plateau through a gorge iu the northernrange, reaches the sea to the east of Batavia Bay after a course of about 140 miles,of which 50 are accessible to small craft. The observations taken on the spotshow that its delta is encroaching on the sea at a mean rate of rather moi-e than22 inches yearly.But the main fluvial artery of the northern slope is the Solo (Bengawan,Fig. 6-5.—NusA Kembanoax.Scale 1 : 650,000.East oF GrDeptha.Sambaya), whose farthe.'^t waters rise in the " Thousand jMountains," within ior 8 miles of the Indian Ocean. After the confluence of the two chief branchesnorth-east of Mount Lawu, the main stream pierces a rocky gorge, beyond-which itbecomes navigable for vessels of a considerable draught. It would even beaccessible to large sea-going ships but for the banks at its mouth covered onlyby 6 or 7 feet of water. In its navigable part, the Solo, which has a totallength of300 miles, flows first to the north-east and then to the east through thoM 2