Note 42 — XII.
Reading edition
73.75 paals (posts) are equal to one degree of the equator, whence one paal = within a small fraction of 4943 feet 6 inches. This method of indicating land-measure originated in the circumstance that on every road intersecting Java from west to east, the respective distances from the three chief places, Batavia, Samarang, and Surabaya, are marked up upon wooden "paale" or posts.