The island of Java is a great agricultural country; its soil is the grand source of its wealth. In its cultivation the inhabitants exert their chief industry, and upon its produce they rely, not only for their subsistence, but the few articles of foreign luxury or convenience which they purchase. The Javans are a nation of husbandmen, and exhibit that simple structure of society incident to such a stage of its progress. To the crop the mechanic looks immediately for his wages, the soldier for his pay, the magistrate for his salary, the priest for his stipend (or jÁkat), and the government for its tribute. The wealth of a province or village is measured by the extent and fertility of its land, its facilities for rice irrigation, and the number of its buffaloes.

When government wishes to raise supplies from particular districts, it does not enquire how many rupees or dollars it can yield in taxes, but what contribution of rice or maize it can furnish, and the impost is assessed accordingly: the officer of revenue becomes a surveyor of land or a measurer of produce, and the fruits of the harvest are brought immediately into the ways and means of the treasury. When a chief gives his assistance in the police or the magistracy, he is paid by so much village land, or the rent of so much land realized in produce; and a native prince has no other means of pensioning a favourite or rewarding a useful servant. "Be it known to the high officers of my palace, to my BopÁtis (regents),[Vol I Pg 118] and to my MÁntris (petite noblesse)," says a Javan patent of nobility granted by Sultan HamÁngku BÚana, "that I have given this letter to my servant to raise him from the earth, bestowing upon him, for his subsistence, lands to the amount of eleven hundred chÁchas, the labour of eleven hundred men." By the population returns, and by the number of leases granted under the late settlement, it appears, that sometimes there is not more than a tenth part of the inhabitants employed in any other branch of industry. Out of a population of 243,268 in the PriÁng'en regencies, 209,125 are stated as employed in agriculture. In SurabÁya, the proportion of householders who are cultivators, is to the rest of the inhabitants as 32,618 to 634; in SemÁrang, as 58,206 to 21,404; in Rembang it is as 103,230 to 55,300; and in other districts there are considerable variations: but it rarely happens, that the people employed in trade, in manufactures, in handicrafts, or other avocations, amount to a half of those engaged in agriculture, or a third of the whole population. The proportion, on an average, may be stated as three and a half or four to one. In England, it is well known, the ratio is reversed, its agricultural population being to its general population as one to three or two and a half. By the surveys lately made under the orders of the British government, we are enabled to describe the processes of Javan agriculture, and to state its results with more accuracy and in greater detail, than can be attained on many subjects of superior public interest. If we avail ourselves of these means pretty largely, it is not so much in the hope of increasing the stock of agricultural knowledge, as of assisting the reader to form an estimate of the character, habits, wants, and resources of the Javan.

The soil of Java, though in many parts much neglected, is remarkable for the abundance and variety of its productions. With very little care or exertion on the part of the cultivator, it yields all that the wants of the island demand, and is capable of supplying resources far above any thing that the indolence or ignorance of the people, either oppressed under the despotism of their own sovereigns, or harassed by the rapacity of strangers, have yet permitted them to enjoy. Lying under a tropical sun, it produces, as before observed, all[Vol I Pg 119] the fruits of a tropical climate; while, in many districts, its mountains and eminences make up for the difference of latitude, and give it, though only a few degrees from the line, all the advantages of temperate regions. The bÁmbu, the cocoa-nut tree, the sugar-cane, the cotton tree, and the coffee plant, here flourish in the greatest luxuriance, and yield products of the best quality. Rice, the great staple of subsistence, covers the slopes of mountains and the low fields, and gives a return of thirty, forty, or fifty fold; while maize, or even wheat and rye, and the other plants of Europe, may be cultivated to advantage on high and inland situations. Such is the fertility of the soil, that in some places after yielding two, and sometimes three crops in the year, it is not necessary even to change the culture. Water, which is so much wanted, and which is seldom found in requisite abundance in tropical regions, here flows in the greatest plenty. The cultivator who has prepared his sÁwah, or rice field, within its reach, diverts part of it from its channel, spreads it out into numerous canals of irrigation, and thus procures from it, under a scorching sun, the verdure of the rainy season, and in due time a plentiful harvest. Nothing can be conceived more beautiful to the eye, or more gratifying to the imagination, than the prospect of the rich variety of hill and dale, of rich plantations and fruit trees or forests, of natural streams and artificial currents, which presents itself to the eye in several of the eastern and middle provinces, at some distance from the coast. In some parts of KedÚ, BanyumÁs, SemÁrang, PasÚruan, and MÁlang, it is difficult to say whether the admirer of landscape, or the cultivator of the ground, will be most gratified by the view. The whole country, as seen from mountains of considerable elevation, appears a rich, diversified, and well watered garden, animated with villages, interspersed with the most luxuriant fields, and covered with the freshest verdure.

Over far the greater part, seven-eighths of the island, the soil is either entirely neglected or badly cultivated, and the population scanty. It is by the produce of the remaining eighth that the whole of the nation is supported; and it is probable that, if it were all under cultivation, no area of land of the same extent, in any other quarter of the globe, could exceed it, either in quantity, variety, or value of its vegetable[Vol I Pg 120] productions. The kind of husbandry in different districts (as shall be mentioned afterwards more particularly) depends upon the nature and elevation of the ground, and the facilities for natural or artificial irrigation. The best lands are those situated in the vallies of the higher districts, or on the slopes of mountains, and on the plains stretching from them, as such lands are continually enriched with accessions of new earth washed down from the hills by the periodical rains. The poorest soil is that found on the ranges of low hills, termed kÉndang, extending along many districts, and particularly in the southern division of the island; but in no part is it so sterile or ungrateful, as not to afford a liberal return for the labour bestowed upon its cultivation, especially if a supply of water can be by any means directed upon it.

But when nature does much for a country, its inhabitants are sometimes contented to do little, and, satisfied with its common gifts, neglect to improve them into the means of dignity or comfort. The peasantry of Java, easily procuring the necessaries of life, seldom aim at improvement of their condition. Rice is the principal food of all classes of the people, and the great staple of their agriculture. Of this necessary article, it is calculated that a labourer can, in ordinary circumstances, earn from four to five kÁtis a day; and a kÁti being equivalent to one pound and a quarter avoirdupois, is reckoned a sufficient allowance for the daily subsistence of an adult in these regions. The labour of the women on Java is estimated almost as highly as that of the men, and thus a married couple can maintain eight or ten persons; and as a family seldom exceeds half that number, they have commonly half of their earnings applicable for the purchase of little comforts, for implements of agriculture, for clothing and lodging. The two last articles cannot be expensive in a country where the children generally go naked, and where the simplest structure possible is sufficient to afford the requisite protection against the elements.

The price of rice, which thus becomes of importance to the labourer, varies in different parts of the island, according to the fertility of the district where it is produced, its situation with regard to a market, or its distance from one of the numerous provincial capitals. As the means of transport, by which the[Vol I Pg 121] abundance of one district might be conveyed to supply the deficiencies of another, and to equalize the distribution of the general stock, are few and laborious, this variation of price is sometimes very considerable: even in the same district there are great variations, according to the nature of the crop. In the Native Provinces, a pÍkul (weighing 133? lbs. English) sometimes sells below the fourth part of a Spanish dollar, and at other times for more than two Spanish dollars; but in common years, and at an average over the whole island, including the capital, the estimate may be taken at thirty Spanish dollars the kÓyan of thirty pÍkuls, or three thousand kÚtis. A kÚti of rice, according to this estimate, may be sold to the consumer, after allowing a sufficient profit to the retail merchant, for much less than a penny.

But though the price of this common article of subsistence may be of some consequence to the Javan labourer, when he wants to make any purchase with his surplus portion, he is rendered independent of the fluctuations of the market for his necessary food, by the mode in which he procures it. He is generally the cultivator of the soil; and while he admits that law of custom, which assigns to the superior a certain share of the produce, he claims an equal right himself to the remainder, which is generally sufficient to support himself and his family: and he sometimes finds in this law of custom, sanctioned by the interest of both parties, a security in the possession of his lands, and a barrier against the arbitrary exactions of his chief, which could scarcely be expected under the capricious despotism of a Mahomedan government. In addition to this reserved share, he raises on his own account, if he is industrious, within what may be termed the cottage farm, all the vegetables, fruit, and poultry requisite for his own consumption. His wife invariably manufactures the slight articles of clothing, which, in such a climate, the common people are in the habit of wearing. What can be spared of the fruits of their joint industry from the supply of their immediate wants, is carried to market, and exchanged for a little salt fish, dried meat, or for other trifling comforts, hoarded as a store for the purchase of an ox or a buffalo, or expended in procuring materials for repairing the hut and mending the implements of husbandry.[Vol I Pg 122]

The farming stock of the cultivator is as limited as his wants are few and his cottage inartificial: it usually consists of a pair of buffaloes or oxen, and a few rude implements of husbandry. There is a small proportion of sheep and goats on the island; but, with the exception of poultry, no kind of live stock is reared exclusively either for the butcher or the dairy. By the returns made in 1813 of the stock and cattle of the provinces under the British government, containing a population of nearly two millions and a half, it was found that there were only about five thousand sheep and twenty-four thousand goats. The number of buffaloes, by the same return, and in the same space, was stated at 402,054, and of oxen at 122,691. Horses abound in the island, but are principally employed about the capitals, and not in husbandry, further than in the transport of produce from one district to another.

The buffalo and ox are used for ploughing. The former is of a smaller size than the buffalo of Sumatra and the Peninsula, though larger than that of Bengal and of the islands lying eastward of Java. It is a strong tractable animal, capable of long and continued exertion, but it cannot bear the heat of the mid-day sun. It is shy of Europeans, but submits to be managed by the smallest child of the family in which it is domesticated. The buffalo is either black or white: the former is larger and generally considered superior. In the SÚnda, or western and mountainous districts, nine out of ten are white, which is not at all the case in the low countries; no essential difference in the breed has been discovered to be connected with this remarkable distinction of colour. The usual price of a buffalo in the western districts is about twenty-four rupees for the black, and twenty rupees for the white; in the eastern districts the price varies from twelve to sixteen rupees. The SÚnda term for a buffalo is mÚnding; the Javan, mÁisa and kÉbo: and in compliment to LalÉan, the prince who is supposed to have introduced cultivation into the SÚnda districts, that prince and his successors on the SÚnda throne are distinguished by the appellation MÚnding or MÁisa. The name of the individual sovereigns enters into a compound with these general terms for the dynasty, and they are called MÁisa-lalÉan, MÚnding-sÁri, and so of others. [Vol I Pg 123]

The ox of Java derives its origin from the Indian breed. Two varieties are common: that which is called the Javan ox has considerably degenerated; the other, which is termed the Bengal or Surat ox, is distinguished by a lump on the shoulder, and retains in his superior strength other traces of his origin. The bull after castration is used as a beast of burden, for the draught, and sometimes for the stall. Cows are chiefly employed in husbandry, and are particularly useful to the poorer class; but in the sÁwah and the extensive inundated plantations of the low districts of the island, the superior bulk and strength of the buffalo is indispensable. Eastward of PasÚruan, however, the lands are ploughed by oxen and cows exclusively. The wild breed, termed bÁntÉng, is found principally in the forests of that quarter and in BÁli, although it occurs also in other parts; a remarkable change takes place in the appearance of this animal after castration, the colour in a few months invariably becoming red.

The cows on Java, as well as throughout the Archipelago, remarkably degenerate from those properties, for which, in a state of domestication, they are chiefly prized in other quarters of the world, and afford little or no milk beyond what is barely sufficient for the nourishment of the calf: but the draught ox does not partake of a similar change, and in the central and eastern districts, particularly where the pasture is good, becomes a strong active animal. The degenerate domestic cows are sometimes driven into the forests, to couple with the wild bÁntÉng, for the sake of improving the breed. A single pair of oxen, or buffaloes, is found sufficient for the yoke both of the plough and harrow; and these form by far the most expensive part of the cultivator's stock. The price of a draught ox, in the central and eastern districts, in which they are more generally used in agriculture, varies from eight to sixteen rupees, or from twenty to forty shillings English, and a cow may be purchased for about the same price. Either from the luxuriance of the pasture, the greater care of the husbandmen, or a more equal climate, both the buffalo and the ox are usually in better condition on Java than in many parts of India: indeed, those miserable half-starved looking animals, with which some of the provinces of Bengal abound, are never seen in this island, except, perhaps, occasionally, in[Vol I Pg 124] some of the few herds belonging to Europeans, in the vicinity of Batavia.

Buffaloes, however, more than other domestic animals, are subject to an epidemic disease, the symptoms and nature of which have not been hitherto carefully noted, or satisfactorily explained. It prevails throughout the whole island, and generally re-appears after an interval of three, four, or five years: it makes great ravages in the stock of the peasantry, and is checked in its progress by no remedies which have hitherto been discovered or applied: it is of an infectious nature, and excites great alarm when it appears: it bears different names in different parts of the island. As the bull and cow are not liable to this disease; and as, in addition to this advantage, they are less expensive in their original purchase, they are preferred by many of the natives.

For draught, the buffalo and cow are employed; and for burden, the horse (particularly mares) and the ox. In level districts, and in good roads, the use of the latter is preferred. The usual burden of a horse is rather less than three hundred weight, and that of an ox rather more than four; but in mountainous districts, and where the roads are neglected, one half of this weight is considered as a sufficient, if not an excessive load.

The comparatively higher price of cattle on Java than in Bengal has been accounted for from the demand for them as food, and the absence of extensive commons on which to feed them.

When implements of husbandry are mentioned in British agriculture, many expensive instruments, and complicated machinery suggest themselves to those acquainted with its practical details. From the preparation of the ground for receiving the seed, till the grain comes into the hands of the miller, labour is economized and produce increased, by many ingenious processes and artful contrivances, of which a Javan could form no conception. He could form no idea of the fabrication or advantages of our different kinds of ploughs; of our swing ploughs, our wheel ploughs, and our two-furrow ploughs; of our grubbers, cultivators, and other instruments for pulverizing the soil; of our threshing and winnowing machines, and other inventions. A plough of the simplest[Vol I Pg 125] construction, a harrow, or rather rake, and sometimes a roller, with a pÁchul, or hoe, which answers the purpose of a spade; an Árit, which serves as a knife or small hatchet; and the Áni Áni, a peculiar instrument used by the reapers, are all the implements employed by him in husbandry; and the total cost of the whole does not exceed three or four rupees, or from seven to ten shillings.

The plough (walÚku), in general use for the irrigated land, consists of three parts, the body, beam, and handle. It is generally made of teak wood, where that material can be provided, or otherwise of the most durable that can be found: the yoke only is of bÁmbu. Simple as it is, it appears, both in its construction and durability, superior to the plough of Bengal, as described by Mr. Colebrooke, from which it differs, in having a board cut out of the piece which forms the body, for throwing the earth aside. The point of the body, or sock, is tipped with iron, which in some districts is cast for the purpose. There is another kind, of more simple construction, in use for dry and mountain cultivation: this is termed brÚjul, and consists of but two parts. Both kinds are so light, that when the ploughman has performed his morning's work, he throws the plough over his shoulder, and without feeling any inconvenience or fatigue, returns with it to his cottage. For gardens, and for small fields adjoining the villages, the small lÚku chÍna, or Chinese plough, is used with one buffalo: the cost for a good plough seldom exceeds a rupee and a half. The harrow (gÁru), which is rather a large rake having only a single rough row of teeth, costs about the same sum, and is in like manner made of teak where procurable; except the handle, beam, and yoke, which are of bÁmbu. When used, the person who guides it generally sits upon it, to give it the necessary pressure for levelling or pulverizing the soil.

The pÁchul is a large hoe, which in Java serves every purpose of the spade in Europe, and is consequently, next to the plough, the most important implement in Javan husbandry. The head is of wood tipped with iron; and the handle, which is about two feet and a half long, frequently has a slight curve, which renders it more convenient for use: its price is about half a rupee. The Árit, or weeding knife, costs about eight pence; and the Áni Áni, with which the grain is reaped,[Vol I Pg 126] about three pence. The latter is a small instrument of peculiar shape. The reaper holds it in a particular manner, and crops off with it each separate ear, along with a few inches of the straw. This mode of reaping has been immemorially practised and is universally followed. Some of the most intelligent people being questioned respecting the origin of this operose process, answered, that it was reported to have been established in ancient times as a s'lÁmat, or grateful acknowledgment for an abundant harvest; that when his field was covered with the bounty of Ceres, no reaper could refuse her this acknowledgment; and that the religious discharge of this obligation was guarded by the belief, that if he ceased to offer this tribute of his labour at the season of harvest, the field would not continue to yield him the same abundant return.

The lands are ploughed, harrowed, and weeded by the men, who also conduct the whole process of irrigation; but the labour of transplanting, reaping, and (where cattle are not used for the purpose) of transporting the different crops from the field to the village, or from the village to the market, devolves upon the women.

Besides the two general divisions of the year, marked out by nature in the great changes of the earth and the atmosphere, there are other periodical distinctions, depending on less obvious or more irregular phenomena. These variations have been ascertained by a reference to the course of the heavenly bodies, or the calculations of the wÚku, which are described in another part of this work. It is the office of the village priest to keep this reckoning, and to apprize the cultivators when the term approaches for the commencement of the different operations of husbandry. Of these minor seasons of the year, the first, commencing after the rice harvest which falls in August or September, lasts forty-one days. During this season the leaves fall from the trees, vegetation is interrupted, and the only field labour performed is the burning of grass and vegetables, as a preparation of the tÉgal or gÁgas. In the second season, which lasts twenty-five days, vegetation again resumes its vigour. The third, which lasts twenty-four days, is considered the most proper for planting sweet potatoes, yams, and such other vegetables as usually form the second crop; the wild flowers of the forest are now in blossom;[Vol I Pg 127] and the period of what is termed dry cultivation commences. The fourth, which lasts also twenty-four days, is the natural season for the pairing of wild animals: high winds now prevail, the rains descend, and the rivers begin to rise. During the fifth, which lasts twenty-six days, the implements of husbandry are prepared, and the water-courses examined and renewed: this is the commencement of the wet cultivation. In the sixth season the ploughing of the sÁwahs and sowing of the bÍbÍt for the great rice crop takes place: this season lasts forty-one days. In the seventh, which also lasts forty-one days, pÁri is transplanted into fields, and the courses of the water properly directed. In the eighth, which lasts twenty-six days, the plants shoot above the water and begin to blossom. In the ninth season, which consists of twenty-five days, the ears of the grain form. In the tenth, also consisting of twenty-five days, they ripen and turn yellow. The eleventh, which lasts twenty-six days, is the period for reaping; and in the twelfth, which consists of forty-one days, the harvest is completed, the produce gathered in, and that dry clear weather prevails, in which the days are the hottest and the nights the coldest of the whole year. The accurate assignment of the number of days by the natives themselves to the different operations of husbandry, affords such complete information on this interesting subject, that any further account would be superfluous. It may, however, be proper to observe, that the periods above described chiefly refer to the progress of the principal rice crop, as influenced by the annual rains; but there are many lands rendered quite independent of these rains, by the vicinity of streams which afford a plentiful supply of water at all times of the year. In many favoured situations, it is even common to observe at one view the rice fields in almost every stage of their cultivation; in one, women engaged in planting the newly prepared soil, and in another, the reapers employed in collecting the fruits of the harvest.

Lands in Java are classed under two general divisions; lands which are capable of being inundated directly from streams or rivers, and lands which are not so. The former are termed sÁwah, the latter tÉgal or gÁga. It is on the sÁwahs that the great rice cultivation is carried on; and these[Vol I Pg 128] admit of a subdivision, according to the manner in which the land is irrigated. Those which can be irrigated at pleasure from adjacent springs or rivers, are considered as the proper sÁwah; those which depend on the periodical rains for the whole or principal part of the water by which they are fertilized, are termed sÁwah tÁdahan. The former are by far the most valuable, and lands of this description admit of two heavy crops annually, without regard to any particular time of the year: the fields seldom exceed forty or sixty feet in breadth, and the water is retained in them by means of a small embankment of about a foot in height. On the slopes of the mountains, where this mode of cultivation is chiefly found, these fields are carried gradually above each other in so many terraces, for the purpose of irrigation, the water admitted in the upper terrace inundating each of them in its descent. The tÉgal lands are appropriated to the culture of less important crops, such as the mountain rice, Indian corn, &c.

The vast superiority of the sÁwah, or wet cultivation, over that of tÉgal, or dry, is shewn in their relative produce, and may be still further illustrated by a comparison of the rents which the two descriptions of land are calculated to afford. The quantity of tÉgal land, or land fit for maize, as compared with that of sÁwah land, varies in different districts. In ChÉribon, the tÉgal land, by the late survey, amounted only to 2,511, while the sÁwan exceeded 16,000. In TÉgal the proportions were even more widely varied, the number of jungs of the former to the latter being as 891 to 11,445. In SurabÁya they were as 1,356 to 17,397; in KedÚ and BesÚki they were nearly equal, being respectively as 8,295 to 10,757, and as 6,369 to 7,862.

The succession of crops, next to the facility of irrigation, depends upon the quality of the soil, which in the native provinces is divided by the cultivators into three principal kinds, tÁna lÁdu, tÁna lÍnchad, and tÁna pÁsir. The first is the best, consisting of rich vegetable mould, and a certain proportion of sand, and exists chiefly near the banks of large rivers; the second is almost pure clay, and is found in the central plains; and the third is alluvial, and covers the maritime districts. The term pÁdas pÉrÉng is applied to the oblique tracts enriched[Vol I Pg 129] with a fertile mould, which form the acclivities of hills, and from which the water readily disappears. TÁna lÁdu will bear a constant succession of crops. TÁna lÍnchad yields only a single annual crop of rice: during the rainy season the soil constitutes a stiff mud, in which the plants find the requisite moisture and display all their luxuriance; when it is afterwards exposed to the rays of the sun, it bursts into extensive fissures, which admitting the scorching heat by which they were produced, become detrimental to every species of vegetation.

Besides the annual crop of rice which is raised on the sÁwah lands, a variety of plants are raised upon them as a second or light crop within the same year. Among these are several species of kÁchang or bean, the cotton plant, the indigo, and a variety of cucumbers, &c. But the more generally useful and profitable vegetables require nearly the same period as the rice, and only yield their increase once in a season: they mostly grow in situations, on which the supply of water can be regulated, and a continued inundation prevented. Among the most important are the gÚdÉ, kÁchang pÉnden, or kÁchang chÍna, kÁchang Íju, kÉdÉle, jÁgung or Indian corn, jÁgung chÁntel, jÁwa-wÚt, jÁli, wÍjen, jÁrak or palma christi, tÉrong, and kÉntang jÁwa.

In tÉgal lands of high situations a particular method of planting is sometimes practiced, which produces a result similar to a succession of crops. Together with the rice are deposited the seeds of other vegetables, which arrive at maturity at different periods, chiefly after the rice harvest. The most common and useful among these is cotton; and, in some tracts, great quantities of this valuable product is thus obtained, without any exclusive allotment of the soil. Next to this are various leguminous and other plants, which do not interfere with the rice. No less than six or eight kinds of vegetables are sometimes in this manner seen to shoot up promiscuously in a single field.

Rice, however, as has been repeatedly observed, is the grand staple of Javan, as well as Indian cultivation, and to this every other species of husbandry is subordinate. The adjacent islands and states of Sumatra, Malacca, Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas, have always in a great measure[Vol I Pg 130] depended on the Javan cultivator for their supply, and the Dutch were in the habit of transporting an annual quantity of between six and eight thousand tons to Ceylon, to Coromandel, to the Cape, and their other settlements. Even at the low rate at which it generally sells, a revenue of near four million of rupees, or about half a million sterling, has been estimated as the government portion of its annual produce.

According to the modes of cultivation by which it has been reared, this grain is called pÁri sÁwah, or pÁri gÁga; corresponding, with some exceptions, to the pÁdi sÁwah, and pÁdi lÁdang of Sumatra. In the western, and particularly the SÚnda districts, the term gÁga is changed for tÍpar, the term gÁga, in these districts, being only occasionally applied to the grain which is cultivated on newly cleared mountainous spots.

The lowland and the mountain rice, or more correctly speaking, the rice raised in dry lands and the rice raised in lands subjected to inundation, are varieties of the same species (the oriza sativa of LinnÆus) although both of them are permanent: but the rice planted on the mountainous or dry ground does not thrive on irrigated lands; nor, on the contrary, does the sÁwah rice succeed on lands beyond the reach of irrigation. The mountain rice is supposed to contain in the same bulk more nourishment than the other, and is more palatable; but its use is limited to the less populous districts of the island, the greater proportion of the inhabitants depending exclusively on the produce of the sÁwahs, or wet cultivation, for their support.

Stavorinus asserts, that the mountain rice is not so good as that of the low lands. Mr. Marsden informs us, on the contrary, that the former brings the higher price, and is considered of superior quality, being whiter, heartier, and better flavoured grain, keeping better, and increasing more in boiling. "The rice of the low lands," he says, "is more prolific from the seed, and subject to less risk in the culture; and on these accounts, rather than from its superior quality, is in more common use than the former." In general, the weightiest and whitest grain is preferred; a preference mentioned by Bontius, who includes in the character of the best rice its whiteness, its clearness of colour, and its preponderating weight, bulk for bulk. Dr. Horsfield con[Vol I Pg 131]ceives that Stavorinus formed his opinion in the low northern maritime districts of Java, and Mr. Marsden from a more extensive observation. Many intelligent natives state, that they prefer the mountain rice when they can procure it, on account of its whiteness, strength, and flavour; and that they are only limited in its use, by the impossibility of raising as much of it as can satisfy the general demand, all the mountain or dry rice not being sufficient to feed one-tenth of the population. In less populous countries, as in many parts of Sumatra, the inhabitants can easily subsist the whole of their numbers exclusively on mountain rice, or that produced on lÁdangs, which are fields reclaimed from ancient forests for the first time, and from which only one crop is demanded. The grain here, as in the mountain rice of Java, is highly flavoured and nutritious; but in countries where the population is crowded, where a scanty crop will not suffice, and where a continued supply of new land cannot be obtained, the peasantry must apply their labour to such grounds as admit of uninterrupted cultivation, and renew their annual fertility by periodical inundations, even although the produce is not so highly prized.

In the sÁwahs of Java the fields are previously ploughed, inundated, and laboured by animals and hoeing, until the mould is converted into a semifluid mire: they then are considered fit to receive the young plants. No manure is ever used. Oil-cakes (bÚngkil), which are by some writers supposed to be used for this purpose generally, are only employed in the gardens about Batavia. One of the chief characteristics of the soil on Java, is an exemption from the necessity of requiring manure: on the sÁwah lands, the annual inundation of the land is sufficient to renovate its vigour, and to permit constant cropping for a succession of years, without any observable impoverishment.

In the cultivation of the sÁwahs, the plants are uniformly transplanted or removed from their first situation. In those of tÉgal or gÁga, they grow to maturity on the same spot where the seed was originally deposited, whether this be on high mountainous districts, or on low lands, the distinction of sÁwah and gÁga depending exclusively not upon the situa[Vol I Pg 132]tion of the field, but in the mode of culture, whether wet or dry.

In raising rice in the sÁwahs, inundation is indispensable till it is nearly ripe. The seed is first sown on a bed prepared for the purpose, about one month before the season for transplanting it, and the plant is during that time termed bÍbit. Two methods are in use. According to the first, called Úrit, the ears of pÁri are carefully disposed on the soft mud of the seed bed; in the second, called ng'Éber, the separated seeds are thrown after the manner of broadcast in Europe. In by far the greatest portions of the island, the ground is prepared, the seed sown, and the plant removed, during the course of the rainy season, or between the months of November and March. In situations where a constant supply of water can be obtained from springs, rivulets, or rivers, two crops are produced in the course of twelve or fourteen months; but the advantage of double cropping, which exhausts the soil without allowing it time to recover, has been considered as very questionable. If in some situations commanding a supply of water, the earth is allowed to rest after the preceding harvest, during the latter end of the rainy season, and the transplantation made in the months of June and July, it generally yields more profitable crops than the common method of working the sÁwah. This, which is termed gÁdu by the natives, has been recommended by the experience of European planters.

Irrigation is exclusively effected by conducting the water of rivers and rivulets from the more or less elevated spots in the vicinity, and in this respect, differs materially in its process from that of Bengal, for although considerable labour and ingenuity are exercised in detaining, regulating, and distributing the supply, by means of dams, called bandÁng'ans, no machinery whatever is employed in raising water for agricultural purposes in any part of the island.

The rice grown on sÁwahs, is of two kinds, pÁri gÉnja and pÁri dÁlam. In the former, the harvest takes place four months after the transplantation; in the latter, six months. PÁri gÉnja having the advantage of a quicker growth, is therefore often planted when the rainy season is far advanced.[Vol I Pg 133] PÁri dÁlam is more prolific, and yields a grain of superior quality, comprising those varieties in which the ears are longer and more compound. The varieties of each kind are distinct and permanent.

The subvarieties are very numerous, amounting, with those of kÉtan, to more than a hundred. KÉtan is a distinct variety, with very glutinous seeds, seldom employed as an article of food, except in confections, cakes, and the like. Of the varieties of the pÁri gÉnsha, mentik and anchar bÁntap are preferred. Of the pÁri dÁlam, those of krentÚlan and sÚka nÁndi are most esteemed, being remarkably well flavoured and fit for keeping. S'lÁmat jÁwa yields also rice of good quality. The bearded kinds of pÁri are always preferred for keeping, as the grains do not readily fall off. Near SÚra-kÉrta, the principal native capital, close to the site of the former capital KÉrta-sÚra, there is a peculiar tract inundated by water from a fountain at PÍng'gÍng, which is said to produce a grain of very superior flavour, from which the table of the SusuhÚnan is supplied. SÚka nÁndi is the kind uniformly preferred for these plantations.

For pÁri gÁga, whether in high or low situations, the ground is prepared by ploughing and harrowing, and the seed is planted after the manner called setting in some parts of England. The holes are made by pointed sticks, called pÓnchos, and into each hole two seeds are thrown. Only careless husbandmen, or those who cannot procure the requisite assistance in their labour, sow by broadcast. In high situations the earth is prepared before the rains commence: the seed is sown in the months of September or October, and the harvest takes place in January and February following. GÁgas of low situations are planted about a month after the harvest of the sÁwah is got in, and frequently receive temporary supplies of water from a neighbouring rivulet. In high situations, to which water cannot be carried, they are sufficiently moistened by the first rains of the season. During their growth, they receive several hoeings from the careful husbandman.

As the grain ripens, an elevated shed is frequently erected in the centre of a plantation, within which a child on the watch touches, from time to time, a series of cords extending[Vol I Pg 134] from the shed to the extremities of the field, like the radii of a circle, and by this cheap contrivance, and an occasional shout, prevents the ravages of birds, which would otherwise prove highly injurious to the crops. These little elevated sheds in the interior, and particularly in the district of BÁnyumÁs, are very neatly constructed of matting.

The reapers are uniformly paid, by receiving a portion of the crop which they have reaped: this varies in different parts of the island, from the sixth to the eighth part, depending on the abundance or scarcity of hands; when the harvest is general through a district, one-fifth or one-fourth is demanded by the reaper. In opposition to so exorbitant a claim, the influence of the great is sometimes exerted, and the labourer is obliged to be content with a tenth or a twelfth.

The grain is separated from the husk by pounding several times repeated. The first operation is generally performed in wooden troughs, in the villages near which it grows, and before it is brought to market. The pÁri being thus converted into bras or rice, afterwards receives repeated poundings, according to the condition or taste of the consumer.

With the exception of the rice raised in sÁwahs, all other produce is cultivated on dry grounds, either on the sÁwah fields during the dry season, or on tÉgal land, at all times exclusively appropriated to dry cultivation. The principal article next to rice, as affording food to man, is maize or Indian corn, termed jÁgung. It is general in every district of Java, but is more particularly an object of attention on MadÚra, where, for want of mountain streams, the lands do not in general admit of irrigation. In the more populous parts of Java, likewise, where the sÁwahs do not afford a sufficient supply of rice, the inhabitants have lately had recourse to the cultivation of maize. It is now rapidly increasing in those low ranges of hills, which, on account of the poverty of the soil, had hitherto been neglected, and is becoming more and more a favourite article of food. In the more eastern districts, it is procured from the inhabitants of MadÚra in exchange for rice. It is generally roasted in the ear, and in that state is exposed while hot for public sale; but it is never reduced to flour, or stored for any considerable time.

The zea maize, or common jÁgung, is a hardy plant, and[Vol I Pg 135] grows on any soil. In common with every other production of Java it thrives there most luxuriantly; nor is there any reason to believe, that the Javan soil is less adapted to it than that of Spanish America, where Humboldt estimates its produce at a hundred and fifty fold. It is planted in fertile low lands in rotation with rice, and in high situations without intermission, often forming in the latter the chief, if not the only, support of the inhabitants. There are three different kinds, distinguished from each other by their respective periods of ripening. The first kind requires seven months, and is a large rich grain; the second takes only three, and is of inferior quality; and the third, which seems valuable only on account of its rapid growth, ripens in forty days, but has a poor small grain. They may be planted at all seasons of the year; and of the two inferior kinds, several crops are often raised from the same ground within the year.

Of other cerealia, the jÁgung chÁntel is raised very partially in particular districts, at no great distance from the capitals of the interior, and mostly for the purpose of preparing from it, by fermentation, a liquor sometimes drunk by the natives; as a general article of food it cannot be enumerated. The jÁwa-wÚt and jÁli are still more confined in their use; although the natives have a tradition, that on the first arrival of the Indian colonists on Java, the former was the only grain found on the island: it yields a pleasant pulp, and is made into several articles of confectionary. As a principal article of food, or a substitute for rice, Indian corn can alone be considered.

In times of scarcity, the natives make use of various kinds of the plantain (musa), also the yam (ubi of the Malays, and uwi of the Javans), the sweet potatoe, katÉlo (convolvulus batatas), the varieties of which are described in one of the early volumes of the Batavian Transactions, and a number of leguminous vegetables, the various kinds of beans (kÁchang), together with a species of grass with minute yellow seeds, called tÚton, which in ancient times is said to have formed a principal article of food, and the dried leaves of some other plants; but, happily, these times seldom occur, and the use of the jÁgung chÁntel and jÁwa-wÚt, as well as of the various roots and leguminous vegetables to which I have alluded, is too limited to produce any sensible effects on the inhabitants.[Vol I Pg 136] Those natives who make use of the Indian corn exclusively, inhabit the highest districts, where the purity of the atmosphere counteracts any injury which their health might otherwise sustain from the want of rice.

From the Áren (sagurus rumphii), which grows abundantly in many parts of Java, a substance is prepared, similar in all respects to the true sago of the Eastern Islands. It is particularly useful in times of scarcity, when large numbers of these valuable trees are felled, for the purpose of collecting the pith. The sap yields an excellent sugar of a dark colour, in common use with the natives. The wine or tÚwak (toddy) prepared from it is superior to that obtained from most other palms.

A very agreeable pulp is prepared from the pith of this tree, pounded with water, and exposed one night to spontaneous evaporation: it is eaten with palm sugar, and found by no means unpleasant by Europeans. The tuberous roots of a species of curcuma, tÉmu lÁwak, grated and infused in water, yields a similar pulp. Both are denominated pÁtÍ, and daily offered for sale along the roads and in the interior.

All the varieties of the cocoa-tree, noticed on Sumatra, are to be found on Java, where its quicker and more luxuriant growth is accounted for by the superiority of soil. The principal varieties of the cocoa-nut are enumerated in one of the early volumes of the Batavian Transactions.

Of the oil-giving plants there are many. The kÁchang gÓring of the Malay countries, or, as it is indifferently termed by the Javans, kÁchang chÍna, pÉnden, or tÁna, is cultivated almost exclusively for the purpose of obtaining its oil, near the capitals of the principal districts, both central and maritime. It requires a very strong soil for its support, and as the cultivation is profitable, the lands which produce it yield high rents. It is never employed as an article of food by itself; but what remains of it after the oil is expressed, forms an ingredient for the seasoning of rice, in one of the common dishes of the natives. The oil is obtained by grinding the seeds between two grooved cylinders, and then separating it either by expression or boiling. The former is chiefly used by the Chinese, and yields as a refuse the oil-cakes, which I formerly observed were employed as manure in some of the gardens near Batavia. Where these cylinders are not in use, the fol[Vol I Pg 137]lowing mode is adopted: the nut having been taken from the ground, is dried by exposure to the sun for a few days; after which the kernel is extracted, and reduced, by successive beatings in the Javan lÉsung or mortar, to a grain sufficiently small to pass through a sieve; it is then boiled by steam, and having been allowed to cool for twenty-four hours, is put into a basket, and in that state placed between two oblong planks, which, being joined together at one extremity, are forced to meet at the other, on the principle of a lemon-squeezer. The oil exuding from the interstices of the basket is caught on an ox's hide, placed below to convey it to an earthen receiver.

The jÁrak, or palma christi, is cultivated in nearly the same manner as maize, and thrives on similar soils: from this plant is obtained most of the oil for burning in lamps. In extracting the oil from this as well as from the cocoa-nut, various processes are employed, most of which tend to accelerate the rancidity of the oil. A pure cold drawn oil is not known. In the cocoa-nut, if the oil is obtained by expression, the broken nuts from which it is made are exposed till putrefaction commences. In other cases they are grated, and water being poured upon them, the parts mixed with it form sÁnten, a white milky fluid, which is evaporated till the oil alone remains. As this process requires much time and fuel, a more economical method is often resorted to: the milky fluid is left exposed for a night, when the oily parts rise to the top, and being separated from the water are purified by a very short boiling.

Of the sugar-cane, or according to the native term, tÉbu (the name by which it is designated, not only on Java, but throughout the Archipelago), there are several varieties. The dark purple cane, which displays the greatest luxuriance, and shoots to the length of ten feet, is the most highly prized. By the Javans the sugar-cane is only cultivated to be eaten in an unprepared state, as a nourishing sweetmeat. They are unacquainted with any artificial method of expressing from it the saccharine juice, and, consequently, with the first material part of the process by which it is manufactured into sugar. Satisfied with the nourishment or gratification which they procure from the plant as nature presents it, they leave[Vol I Pg 138] the complicated process to be conducted exclusively by the Chinese.

The cane, as in the West Indies, is propagated by cuttings of about a foot and a half long, which are inserted in the ground in an upright direction, previously to the setting in of the rains. The Chinese occasionally use oil-cake for enriching the lands; but where the plant is only raised for consumption in its fresh state, no manure whatever is thought requisite; and a good soil, without such preparation, will yield three or four crops in succession.

The cane is extensively cultivated for the juice in the vicinity of Batavia, where there are numerous manufactories, principally owned by the Chinese. It is also cultivated for this purpose in considerable tracts at JÚpara and PasÚruan, and partially in other districts of the eastern provinces, where mills are established for expressing it. Previous to the disturbances in ChÉribon, sugar likewise was manufactured in that district in considerable quantities, and furnished an important article of export.

The coffee-plant, which is only known on Java by its European appellation, and its intimate connexion with European despotism, was first introduced by the Dutch early in the eighteenth century, and has since formed one of the articles of their exclusive monopoly. The labour by which it is planted, and its produce collected, is included among the oppressions or forced services of the natives, and the delivery of it into the government stores, among the forced deliveries at inadequate rates. Previously to the year 1808, the cultivation of coffee was principally confined to the SÚnda districts. There were but comparatively few plantations in the eastern districts, and the produce which they were capable of yielding did not amount to one-tenth part of the whole; but, under the administration of Marshal Daendels, this shrub usurped the soil destined for yielding the subsistence of the people; every other kind of cultivation was made subservient to it, and the withering effects of a government monopoly extended their influence indiscriminately throughout every province of the Island.

In the SÚnda districts, each family was obliged to take[Vol I Pg 139] care of one thousand coffee plants; and in the eastern districts, where new and extensive plantations were now to be formed, on soils and in situations in many instances by no means favourable to the cultivation, five hundred plants was the prescribed allotment. No negligence could be practised in the execution of this duty: the whole operations of planting, cleaning, and collecting, continued to be conducted under the immediate superintendance of European officers, who selected the spot on which new gardens were to be laid out, took care that they were preserved from weeds and rank grass, and received the produce into store when gathered.

A black mould intermixed with sand, is considered the best soil for the coffee plant. In selecting a situation for the gardens, the steep declivities of mountains, where the plant would be endangered either by the too powerful heat of the sun or an entire want of it, or where torrents in the rainy season might wash away the rich earth necessary for its growth, are avoided. The best situation for them is usually considered to be in the vales along the foot of the high mountains, or on the gentle declivities of the low range of hills, with which the principal mountains are usually skirted; and it is found that, cÆteris paribus, the greater is the elevation of the garden, the longer is the period of its productiveness, and the finer is the berry.

Having selected a proper spot for the garden, the first operation is to clear the ground of trees, shrubs, and the rank grass or reeds, the latter of which, termed galÚga, are often found in these situations, and generally indicate a rich soil. In clearing the ground, it is the practise to collect together into heaps, and burn the trees, roots, and other rubbish found on it, the ashes of which serve to enrich the soil: when the trees are very large, the heavy labour of rooting them up is avoided, and the trunks being cut about five feet from the ground, are left in that state to rot, and in their gradual decay still further to enrich the land. As soon as the ground is thus cleared, it is levelled by three or four ploughings at short intervals, and laid out to receive the plants. A fence is planted round them, about twelve feet from their outer row, generally of the jÚrak, or palma christi, intermixed with either the dÁdap, or the silk cotton tree; and, in low situations, out[Vol I Pg 140]side of this a ditch is dug to carry off the water. These operations commence in August or September, and by the time the ground is in perfect readiness for planting, the heavy rains are nearly over. It then only remains to select the young plants, and prepare the dÁdap which is intended to shade them.

Of the dÁdap tree there are three kinds; the serÁp, dÓri, and wÁru: but the first is preferred on account of the greater shade it affords. It is propagated by cuttings, and in selecting them for the coffee plantations, care is had that they are taken from trees at least two or three years old, and that they be three or four feet long, of which one foot at least must be buried in the ground. After the dÁdaps are planted, holes are dug, from a foot and a half to two feet deep, for the reception of the coffee plant, which is then removed from the seed place or nursery, and transplanted into the gardens.

In coffee gardens of four or five years old, are found quantities of young plants, that have sprung up spontaneously from the ripe berries dropping off the trees, and when these can be obtained about fourteen inches long, of a strong healthy stem, large leaves, and without branches, they are preferred to others: but as the plants thus procured are seldom found in sufficient quantities, nurseries for rearing them are formed as follows: When the berries are allowed to remain on the shrub after maturity, they become black and dry: in this state they are plucked, and sown in seed beds lightly covered with earth: as soon as two small leaves appear, the plants are taken from the bed, and transplanted, about a foot asunder, under the cover of sheds prepared for that purpose; in about eighteen months, these plants are fit for removing into the garden or plantation where they are destined to yield their fruit. In taking the young plant up, the greatest care is necessary not to injure the roots, especially the tap root, and with this view it is generally removed with as much earth attached to it as possible. This precaution has the additional advantage of not too suddenly bringing the plant in contact with a new soil.

The plantations are generally laid out in squares. The distance between each plant varies according to the fertility of the soil: in a soil not considered fertile, a distance of six feet[Vol I Pg 141] is preserved, and in each interval is a dÁdap tree for the purpose of affording shade; but in a rich soil, where the plant grows more luxuriantly, fewer dÁdaps are necessary, and the plants are placed at a greater distance from each other.

On Java a certain degree of shade seems necessary to the health of the coffee-plant, especially in low situations and during its early age; and the dÁdap is found better calculated for affording this protection than any other shrub in the country. It is a common saying, that where the dÁdap flourishes, there also will flourish the coffee: but they are not always constant or necessary companions; for in high lands many of the most flourishing gardens are to be observed with very few dÁdaps. The coffee tree yields fruit for a period of twenty years, yet in the low lands it seldom attains a greater age than nine or ten years (during six or seven of which only it may be said to bear), and the fruit is comparatively large and tasteless.

About the end of the rainy season, such coffee plants and dÁdaps as have not thriven are replaced by others, and the plantations cleaned: this latter operation, in gardens well kept, is generally performed three or four times in the year: but the tree is never cut or pruned, and is universally allowed to grow in all its native luxuriance. In this state, it often in favoured situations attains the height of sixteen feet, and plants of not less than eight inches broad have frequently been procured from the trunk. The general average produce of a coffee-tree is not estimated at much more than a kÁti, or a pound and a quarter English, notwithstanding some yield from twenty to thirty kÁtis.

There does not appear to be any fixed or certain season for the coffee to arrive at maturity. In the SÚnda districts the gathering usually commences in June or July, and it is not till April that the whole crop is delivered into store. The season, however, generally gives what is termed three crops; of which the first is but small, the second the most abundant, and the third, being what is left to ripen, may be considered rather as a gleaning. When the berries become of a dark crimson colour, they are plucked one by one, with the assistance of a light bÁmbu ladder or stage, great care being taken not to shake off the blossoms which are still on the tree, or to[Vol I Pg 142] pluck the unripe fruit. The women and children usually collect the crop, while the husband is elsewhere engaged in harder labour. Attached to every principal village, near which there are coffee plantations of any extent, there is a drying-house, to which the newly gathered coffee is brought: it is there placed on hurdles, about four feet from the floor, under which a slow wood fire is kept up during the night. The roof of the drying-house is opened in the mornings and evenings, to admit the air, and the berries are frequently stirred to prevent fermentation. As the heat of the sun is considered prejudicial, the roof of the house is closed during the day. This operation is repeated till the husk is quite dry. The berries dried in this way are small, and of a sea green or greyish colour, and are supposed to acquire a peculiar flavour from the smoke, although it does not appear that any particular kind of wood is used for fuel. When dried in the sun, the bean becomes of a pale bleached colour, is larger, specifically lighter, and more insipid to the taste than the former. The most common mode of freeing the bean from the husk is, to pound the berries when dry in a bag of buffalo's hide, great care being taken not to bruise the bean. A mill of simple construction is sometimes used, but is not found to answer so well. The coffee being then separated from the husk, is put into bags or baskets, and kept on raised platforms till the season of delivery, when it is carried down to the storehouse, sometimes by men, but generally on the backs of buffaloes and mares, in strings of fifteen hundred or two thousand at a time.

In the SÚnda districts there have been, for many years past, three principal depÔts for receiving the coffee from the cultivators; viz. at Buitenzorg, ChikÀn, and Karang-sÁmbang. From Buitenzorg it is either sent direct to Batavia by land in carts, or by the way of Linkong, whence it is forwarded in boats by the river Chi-dÁni. From ChikÀn the coffee is sent in boats down the river Chi-tÁram, and thence along the sea-coast to Batavia. From Karang-sÁmbang it is sent down the river Chi-mÁnok to Indra-mÁyu, where it is received into extensive warehouses, and whence it is now generally exported for the European market.

Under this system, the SÚnda districts were estimated to[Vol I Pg 143] afford an annual produce of one hundred thousand pÍkuls of one hundred and thirty-three pounds and a quarter each, and it was calculated that the young plantations in the eastern districts, when they should come into bearing, would produce an equal quantity; but in this latter quarter, many of the gardens had been fixed on ill-judged spots, and the inhabitants were averse to the new and additional burden which this cultivation imposed upon their labour. Had the system, therefore, even been persevered in, and enforced by a despotic authority, it is questionable, whether the quantity anticipated in the above estimate, or even one half of it, would have been obtained from the eastern districts. The SÚndas living in an inland and mountainous country, and having been long accustomed to the hardship of the coffee culture, are less sensible of its pressure than the rest of their countrymen: time and habit have reconciled them to what was at first revolting, and what must always be considered as unjust; their modes of life, their arts, their domestic economy, and other social habits, have all adapted themselves to a species of labour, which was at first forced upon them; and a state of servitude, which the philosopher would lament as a degradation, is scarcely felt to be a grievance by them. Instances, however, are not wanting, in which the usual measure of exaction having been surpassed, they have been awakened to a sense of their wretchedness. A government of colonial monopolists, eager only for profit, and heedless of the sources from which it was derived, sometimes subjected its native subjects to distresses and privations, the recital of which would shock the ear of humanity. Suffice it to say, that the coffee culture in the SÚnda districts has sometimes been so severely exacted, that together with the other constant and heavy demands made by the European authority on the labour of the country, they deprived the unfortunate peasants of the time necessary to rear food for their support. Many have thus perished by famine, while others have fled to the crags of the mountains, where raising a scanty subsistence in patches of gÁnga, or oftener dependent for it upon the roots of the forest, they congratulated themselves on their escape from the reach of their oppressors. Many of these people, with their descendants, remain in these haunts to the present time: in their annual migrations from hill to[Vol I Pg 144] hill, they frequently pass over the richest lands, which still remain uncultivated and invite their return; but they prefer their wild independence and precarious subsistence, to the horrors of being again subjected to forced services and forced deliveries at inadequate rates.

It is difficult to say what was the recompense received by the cultivator previous to the year 1808. The complicated system of accounts which then prevailed, seemed only calculated to blind the government, and to allow the European commissary to derive an income of from eighty to one hundred thousand dollars (25,000l. per annum), at the expence of the authorities by whom he was employed, and the natives whom he oppressed. This, in common with most of the establishments on the island, underwent a revision in the time of Marshal Daendels; and it was then directed, that the cultivators should receive on delivery at the storehouses, three rix-dollars copper for each mountain pÍkul of two hundred and twenty-five pounds Dutch, being little more than one dollar per hundred weight, or one half-penny per pound. This same coffee was sometimes sold at Batavia, within fifty miles of the spot where it was raised, at twenty Spanish dollars the hundred weight, and has seldom been known to bring in the European market less than eleven pence the pound. This, however, was deemed a liberal payment by the Dutch, though in some cases it had been transported over sixty miles of an almost impassable country, where two men are required to carry a hundred-weight of coffee, on their shoulders, at an expence of labour which one would suppose at least equal to this remuneration.

Under the administration of the British government, the free cultivation of coffee, in common with that of all other articles, was permitted to the inhabitants of Bantam, ChÉribon, and all the eastern districts; and at the time when the island was again ceded to the Dutch, arrangements were in progress for extending the same provision throughout the SÚnda districts, under a conviction, that the quantity produced would not be less under a system of free cultivation and free trade, than under a system in which it was found necessary, as one of the first acts of European authority, to compel the native princes to direct "the total annihilation of the coffee culture within their[Vol I Pg 145] dominions," and to secure by treaty with them the destruction and confiscation of all coffee found in the hands of the natives[46]. A considerable portion of the peasantry, as already observed, have long been accustomed to the cultivation, and it is owing to their skill and experience, as much as to any direct superintendence or interference of the European officers (who generally derive their information from the native chiefs, and have little more to do, than occasionally to ride through the garden with a pompous suite, keep the accounts, and examine the coffee as it is received), that the coffee has so long been furnished for the European market; the experience obtained in the eastern districts, during the last three years, proves at least that coercive measures are unnecessary. There are many parts of Java, particularly the PrÍang'en regencies, where the soil is peculiarly and eminently adapted to the cultivation; and although it is difficult yet awhile to fix the exact rate at which the coffee might be produced under a free system, it may be calculated to be raised for exportation at about forty shillings per hundred weight.

Of the quality of the Javan coffee, in comparison with that of other countries, it may be observed, that during the last years, it has invariably maintained its price in the European market in competition with that of Bourbon, and rather exceeded it, both of them being higher than the produce of the West Indies. During the last years of the British administration on Java, and after the opening of the European market again afforded a demand, about eleven millions of young coffee shrubs were planted out in new gardens.

Pepper, which at one time formed the principal export from Java, has for some time ceased to be cultivated to any considerable extent. It was principally raised in Bantam, and the dependencies of that province in the southern part of Sumatra; and in the flourishing state of the monopoly, these districts furnished the Dutch with the chief supply for the European market.

But the system by which it was procured was too oppressive and unprincipled in its nature, and too impolitic in its provisions, to admit of long duration. It was calculated to[Vol I Pg 146] destroy the energies of the country, and with them, the source from whence the fruits of this monopoly proceeded. In the year 1811, accordingly, neither Bantam nor its dependencies furnished the European government with one pound of this article.

That pepper may be produced on Java, and supplied at a rate equally moderate with that at which other productions requiring similar care are furnished, cannot admit of a doubt, and this reasonable price may be estimated at about six or seven Spanish dollars (thirty to thirty-five shillings) the pÍkul. The plant grows luxuriantly in most soils, and when once reared requires infinitely less care and labour than coffee. The cultivation of it on Sumatra and Prince of Wales' Island having been so accurately and minutely described by Mr. Marsden and Dr. Hunter, it would be unnecessary here to detail the system followed on Java, as it is in most points the same. The only peculiarity regarding it which may deserve notice is, that on this island the plant is allowed to grow to a much greater size, entwining itself round the cotton trees, frequently to the height of fifty and sixty feet.

Indigo, called tom by the Javans, and by the SÚndas tÁrum, is general, and raised in most parts of the island. The indigo prepared by the natives is of an indifferent quality, and in a semifluid state, and contains much quick-lime; but that prepared by Europeans is of very superior quality.

An inferior variety, denominated tom-mÉnir, having smaller seeds, and being of quicker growth, is usually planted as a second crop in sÁwahs, on which one rice crop has been raised. In these situations, the plant rises to the height of about three feet and a half. It is then cut, and the cuttings are repeated three, or even four times, till the ground is again required for the annual rice crop. But the superior plant, when cultivated on tÉgal lands, and on a naturally rich soil, not impoverished by a previous heavy crop, rises in height above five feet, and grows with the greatest luxuriance. The plants intended for seeds are raised in favoured spots on the ridges of the rice fields in the neighbourhood of the villages, and the seed of one district is frequently exchanged for that of another. That of the rich mountainous districts being esteemed of best quality, is occasionally introduced into the[Vol I Pg 147] low lands, and is thought necessary to prevent that degeneration, which would be the consequence of cultivating for a long time the same plant upon the same soil. In the province of MatÁrem, where indigo is most extensively cultivated, it is sold in the market in bundles, as low as eight-pence the pÍkul weight; but in the vicinity of SemÁrang, and in districts where it is not produced in great abundance, it bears an advance upon this price of fifty per cent.

The climate, soil, and state of society on Java, seem to offer peculiar advantages to the extensive cultivation of this plant; and under the direction of skilful manufacturers, the dye stuff might form a most valuable and important export for the European market. The periodical draughts and inundations, which confine the cultivation and manufacture in the Bengal provinces to a few months in the year, are unknown in Java, where the plant might, in favoured situations, be cultivated nearly throughout the whole year, and where at least it would be secure of a prolonged period of that kind of weather, necessary for the cutting. The soil is superior, and a command of water affords facilities seldom to be met with elsewhere; while, from the tenure on which the cultivators hold their land, and the state of society among them, advances on account of the ensuing crop, which in Bengal form so ruinous a part of an indigo concern, are here unnecessary, and would be uncalled for.

The dye (nÍla blue) is prepared by the natives in a liquid state, by infusing the leaves with a quantity of lime: in this state it forms by far the principal dye of the country. Besides the quantity of it consumed within the island, it is sometimes exported to neighbouring countries by native traders, and sold at the rate of from a dollar and a half to three dollars the pÍkul, according as the plant may be in abundance or otherwise.

It is impossible to form any idea of the rate at which this species of dye can reasonably be manufactured for the European market, from the prices paid by the Dutch, both because the article was one of those classed by them under the head of forced deliveries, and because the regents, who were entrusted with its exclusive management, not fully under[Vol I Pg 148]standing the process of making it, conducted it always in a very expensive way, and were frequently exposed to entire failures.

The cotton of the country, distinguished by the name of kÁpas jÁwa, is a variety of the gossypium herbaceum; but it is inferior to that generally cultivated on the Indian continent, which is also found on Java, and called by the Javans kÁpas mÚri. The plant of the former differs from the latter, in having a smaller stem, and in yielding a material, both of coarser fibre and in less quantity. There is a third variety, with a subarborescent stem, called kÁpas tÁhon, which is very scarce. Trials remain to be made, to determine how far the culture of the Indian cotton might be extended, so as to supersede the Javan cotton. The inferior kind, which forms the principal, and indeed with the mass of the people the only material for clothing, is cultivated in almost every part of the island. The soil, however, is not considered as universally favourable to its growth: many of the low lands, consisting of a clay, which bursts in the dry season, are unfit for it; and on several of the more fertile districts, where the plant itself flourishes, little cotton is obtained from it: the declivities of the hills, in which the mountain rice is raised, yield in general the best and most abundant supply. At present, scarcely a sufficient quantity is produced on the island to employ the female part of the inhabitants; and one district often depends upon another for the principal part of what it uses. The cotton of BÁnyumÁs is exported to BÁgalen, to TÉgal, and the western parts of MatÁrem, where it is manufactured; the environs of Wong'go, Adi-langÚ, and other places towards the southern hills, supply both the capitals in the interior; Kediri, PranÁrÁga, and the vicinity, likewise furnish considerable quantities for other parts of the island. In the SÚnda districts, the principal supply is received from the east and west JÁmpang. The culture of cotton, and the manufacture of yarn, are in some degree promoted by an ancient custom, which imposes on every householder or village a certain contingent of cotton yarn for the sovereign, or for the person who holds the land on his account: this custom is called panyÚmpleng. The chiefs on Java, and particularly on BÁli, frequently wear a[Vol I Pg 149] skein of cotton yarn entwined round the handle of the kris; a custom which sufficiently indicates the respect paid to this species of cultivation.

The Javan cotton is a hardy plant, which grows to about the height of a foot and a half. It is generally planted on the sÁwahs after the reaping of the rice crop, and yields the cotton in less than three months. The Indian cotton grows to a larger size, and produces a material of an infinitely superior quality; but it is more delicate in its nature, must be watched with greater care, and requires a month longer to attain to maturity. Cotton cultivated on tÉgal, or dry land, is considered as generally better than that raised as a second crop on sÁwah; and this mode of cultivation has been adduced as the cause of the superiority ascribed to the cotton of BÂli, and other more eastern islands.

Tobacco,[47] termed by the natives tombÁku, or sÁta, is an article of very general cultivation, but is only extensively raised for exportation in the central districts of KedÚ and BÁnyumÁs: as it requires a soil of the richest mould, but at the same time not subject to inundations, these districts hold out peculiar advantages to the tobacco-planter, not to be found on the low lands. For internal consumption, small quantities are raised in convenient spots every where; but the most eastern districts and MadÚra are principally supplied from PÚgar. Bantam receives its supply from BÁnyumÁs, by means of native traders from PakalÚngan visiting that port in small craft. The produce of KedÚ is conveyed by men to SemÁrang, the great port of exportation.

In Kedu it forms, after rice, by far the most important article of cultivation; and, in consequence of the fitness of the soil, the plant grows to the height of from eight to ten feet, on lands not previously dressed or manured, with a luxuriance[Vol I Pg 150] seldom witnessed in India. Cultivated here alternately with rice, only one crop of either is obtained within the year; but after the harvest of the rice, or the gathering of the tobacco-leaves, the land is allowed to remain fallow, till the season again arrives for preparing it to receive the other. The young plant is not raised within the district, but procured from the high lands in the vicinity; principally from the district of KÁli-bÉber, on the slope of the mountain DÍeng or PrÁhu, where it is raised and sold by the hundred to the cultivators of the adjoining districts. The transplantation takes place in the month of June, and the plant is at its full growth in October.

Wheat has been introduced by the Europeans, and cultivated with success to the extent required by the European population. It thrives in many parts of the interior of the country: it is sown in May, and reaped in October; and, where the cultivation has been left to the Javans, the grain has been sold at the rate of about seven rupees the pÍkul.

Potatoes have been cultivated during the last forty years, in elevated situations, near all the principal European establishments, and are reckoned of a quality superior to those ordinarily procured in Bengal or China. Few of the natives, however, have as yet adopted them as a common article of food. Besides potatoes, most of the common culinary vegetables of Europe are raised in the gardens of the Europeans and Chinese. It must be confessed, however, that they degenerate, if perpetuated on the soil without change; and that their abundance and quality depends, in a great measure, on the supplies of fresh seed imported from Europe, the Cape, or other quarters.

Having now given an account of the different kinds of produce raised within the island, and the arts of husbandry practised by the natives, I shall conclude this short sketch of Javan agriculture by an account of the tenure of landed property, the rights of the proprietor and tenant, the proportion of the produce paid for rent, the division of farms among the inhabitants of villages, and the causes that have obstructed or promoted agricultural improvements.

The relative situation, rank, and privileges of the village farmer and the native chief in Java, correspond in most in[Vol I Pg 151]stances, with those of the Ryot and Zemindar of Bengal; but the more frequent and more immediate interference of the sovereign, in the former case, with any tendency to established usage or prescriptive claim, has left no room for that difference of opinion, concerning proprietary right, which exercised the ingenuity of the highest authorities in the latter. In Bengal, before the introduction of the permanent revenue settlement, there were usages, institutions, and established modes of proceeding with regard to landed estates, that rendered it doubtful in which of the three parties more immediately interested, the proprietary right should finally and lawfully be settled. The claim of the Ryot to retain the land which he cultivated, so long as he paid the stipulated contribution, seemed to raise his character above that of an ordinary tenant removeable at pleasure, or at the conclusion of a stipulated term. The situation of the Zemindar, as the actual receiver of the rents, standing between the sovereign and the cultivator, although merely for the purpose of paying them over with certain deductions to the sovereign, and his frequently transmitting the office with its emoluments to his children, although held only during pleasure, gave his character some affinity to that of an European landholder. And lastly, the sovereign himself, who ultimately received the rents, and regulated them at his pleasure, and removed both Zemindar and Ryot, in case of negligence or disobedience, was arrayed with the most essential attributes of proprietary right, or at least exercised a power that could render any opposite claims nugatory. Thus the Ryot, the Zemindar, and the Sovereign, had each his pretensions to the character of landholder. After much cautious inquiry and deliberate discussion on the part of our Indian government, the claims of the Zemindars, rather perhaps from considerations of policy than a clear conviction of their superior right, were preferred. In Java, however, except in the cases of a few alienated lands and in the SÚnda districts, of which more will be said hereafter, no such pretensions are heard of, as those which were advocated on the part of the Zemindars of western India; although inquiries to ascertain the equitable and legitimate rights of all classes of the people, were known to be in progress, and a plan was declared to be in contemplation for their permanent adjustment. From every[Vol I Pg 152] inquiry that was instituted under the British government, and every fact that was presented to the view of its officers, it appeared that, in the greatest part of the island, in the eastern and middle districts, and in short in those provinces where rent to any considerable amount was attainable, there existed no proprietary right between that of the sovereign and that of the cultivator, that the government was the only landholder.

There are lands, indeed, which contribute nothing to the state, some on which the cultivator pays no rent whatever, and others of which the rent remains in the hands of his immediate superior; but the manner in which individuals acquire, and the tenure by which they hold such lands, form illustrations and proofs of the proprietary right of the sovereign. As his resources arise almost entirely from the share of produce which he exacts, and as he considers himself invested with an absolute dominion over that share, he burthens certain villages or estates with the salaries of particular officers, allots others for the support of his relatives or favourites, or grants them for the benefit of particular charitable or religious institutions; in the same manner as, before the Consolidation Act in this country, the interest of particular loans were fixed upon the produce of specific imposts. Here the alienation shews the original right: the sovereign renounces the demand to which he was entitled; he makes no claim upon the farmer for a share of the crop himself, but orders it to be paid over to those whom he thus appoints in his place, so far as the gift extends. With the exception of the SÚnda districts, as already stated, and a comparatively inconsiderable portion of land thus alienated on different conditions, the proprietary right to the soil in Java vests universally in the government, whether exercised by native princes or by colonial authority, and that permanent and hereditary interest in it so necessary to its improvement, those individual rights of property which are created by the laws and protected by the government, are unknown. With these exceptions, neither law nor usage authorizes the oldest occupant of land in Java to consider the ground which he has reclaimed from waste, or the farm on which he has exerted all his industry, as his own, by such a tenure as will enable him, and his successors for ever, to reap the fruits of his labour. He can have[Vol I Pg 153] gained no title, even to a definite term of occupancy, but from the capricious servant of a capricious despot, who himself is not legally bound by his engagement, and whose successor is not even morally bound by it.

As a matter of convenience, the same cultivator may continue to occupy the same portion of land for life, and his children, after his decease, may inherit the ground which he cultivated, paying the dues to which he was liable. The head of a village, whether called BÚkul, Peting'gi, or LÚrah, may be continued in the collection of the village rents for life, and may be succeeded in office by his heirs; the superior officer, or DemÁng, with whom he accounts, may likewise hold his situation for a long period, and transmit it to his family; but none of them can stand in the possession against the will of their immediate superior, or of the sovereign, by any claim of law or custom.

Little of the revenue collected from the occupants is transmitted to the government treasury; the greatest part of that which is raised, and which, in other countries, would come into the hands of government, for subsequent distribution among its servants and the support of its various establishments, is intercepted in its progress by those to whom the sovereign immediately assigns it. The officers of police, of justice, of the prince's household, and, in short, public servants of all classes, from the prime minister down to the lowest menial, are paid with appropriations of the rent of land.

To this general principle of Javan law and usage, that the government is the only landholder, there are exceptions, as I mentioned before, in some districts of the island. These are chiefly in the districts inhabited by the SÚndas, who occupy the mountainous and woody country in the western division of the island. Among them, private property in the soil is generally established; the cultivator can transmit his possession to his children: among them, it can be subdivided, without any interference on the part of a superior; the possessor can sell his interest in it to others, and transfer it by gift or covenant. He pays to his chief a certain proportion of the produce, in the same manner as the other inhabitants of Java; because, in a country without trade or manufactures,[Vol I Pg 154] labour or produce is the only shape in which he can contribute to support the necessary establishments of the community. So long as he advances this tribute, which is one-tenth or one-fifth of the gross produce, he has an independent right to the occupancy of his land, and the enjoyment of the remainder. The reason why the landed tenure of these districts differs, in so important a particular, from that of the most extensive and valuable part of the island, may perhaps be explained from their nature, without resorting to any original difference in the laws of property, or the maxims of government. Where the population is small in proportion to the extent of soil, and much land remains unoccupied, the best only will become the subject of demand and appropriation. The latter alone is valuable, because it yields great returns for little labour, and therefore offers inducements to engage in its cultivation, in spite of many artificial disadvantages: it alone can afford a desirable surplus, after maintaining the hands that call for its fertility, and consequently tempts power to reserve unalienated the right to this surplus. On the other hand, when waste ground is to be reclaimed, when forests or jungle are to be cleared, or when a sterile and ungrateful spot is to be cultivated, the government have less interest in reserving the surplus, and must offer superior inducements of immunity, permanency, or exemption, to lead to cultivation. On this principle, the tenure of land in the SÚnda districts, and on some parts of the coast, may be accounted for. It may be concluded, that many of these lands were reclaimed from waste by the present occupiers or their immediate predecessors, and their rights to possess them, which is similar to that which the discoverer of an unappropriated field, forest, or mine would have, by nature, to as many of their products as he could realize by his labours, has not been crushed or interfered with by the sovereign; a forbearance, probably, more to be attributed to motives of prudence than to the restraint of law. Nearly coincident with this conclusion is the supposition which assumes, that before the introduction of the Mahomedan system, and the encroachments of despotic sovereigns, all the lands on the island were considered as the property of those who cultivated them; but that, as the value of the most fertile spots became more appa[Vol I Pg 155]rent, while the labour which had been originally expended in clearing them, and constituted the title to their original occupancy, was gradually forgotten, the government found inducements and facilities to increase its demands, and thus became possessed of the rights of some by violence, while it rendered those of all unworthy of being preserved. The land tenures of the SÚnda districts, according to this hypothesis, are only wrecks of the general system, which have been protected against encroachment, because they did not so powerfully invite rapacity. Whatever truth there may be in this opinion, the fact is undoubted, that in the mountainous and less fertile districts of Java, and in the island of BÁli, where the Mahomedan sway has not yet extended, individual proprietary right in the soil is fully established, while in that portion of Java where the Mahomedan rule has been most felt, and where proprietary right amounts to the greatest value, it vests almost exclusively in the sovereign.

The situation, however, of the cultivator in the Sunda districts, who is a proprietor, is not much more eligible than that of the tenant of the government: he may, it is true, alienate or transfer his lands, but while he retains them, he is liable to imposts almost as great as they can bear; and when he transfers them, he can therefore expect little for surrendering to another the privilege of reaping from his own soil, what is only the average recompense of labour expended on the estate of another. The Revenue Instructions, therefore, bearing date the 11th February 1814, and transmitted from the local government to the officers intrusted with the charge of the several provinces subject to its authority, lay down the following general position: "The nature of the landed tenure throughout the island is now thoroughly understood. Generally speaking, no proprietary right in the soil is vested in any between the actual cultivator and the sovereign; the intermediate classes, who may have at any time enjoyed the revenues of villages or districts, being deemed merely the executive officers of government, who received these revenues from the gift of their lord, and who depended on his will alone for their tenure. Of this actual proprietary right there can be no doubt that the investiture rested solely in the sovereign; but it is equally certain, that the[Vol I Pg 156] first clearers of the land entitled themselves, as a just reward, to such a real property in the ground they thus in a manner created, that while a due tribute of a certain share of its produce was granted to the sovereign power for the protection it extended, the government, in return, was equally bound not to disturb them or their heirs in its possession. This disposal of the government share was thus, therefore, all that could justly depend on the will of the ruling authority; and consequently, the numerous gifts of land made in various periods by the several sovereigns, have in no way affected the rights of the actual cultivators. All that government could alienate was merely its own revenue or share of the produce. This subject has come fully under discussion, and the above result, as regarding this island, has been quite satisfactorily established." It is remarked, in a subsequent paragraph of the same instructions, "that there have been, it is known, in many parts of the country, grants from the sovereign of lands in perpetuity, which are regularly inheritable, and relative to which the original documents still exist. Of these, some have been made for religious purposes, others as rewards or provision for relatives or the higher nobility. These alienations, as far as it was justly in the power of the sovereign to make, must certainly be held sacred; but their extent should be clearly defined, that the rights of others be not compromised by them. The government share, when granted, will not be reclaimed; but the rights of the cultivator must not be affected by these grants. Such proprietors of revenue, as they may be termed, shall in short be allowed to act, with regard to the cultivators on their estates, as government acts towards those on its own lands, that is, they shall receive a fixed share of the produce, but whilst that is duly delivered, they shall neither exact more nor remove any individual from his land." It is remarked by Major Yule, the British resident, in his Report on Bantam, that there, "all property in the soil is vested exclusively in the hands of the sovereign power; but in consequence of its having been long customary to confer grants of land upon the different branches of the royal family, and other chiefs and favourites about court, a very small portion was left without some claimant[Vol I Pg 157] or other. The pÚsÁkas granted to the relations of the Sultan were considered as real property, and sometimes descended to the heirs of the family, and at others were alienated from it by private sale. To effect a transfer of this nature, the previous sanction of the Sultan was necessary, after which the party waited on the high priest, or Mangku-bumi, who made the necessary inquiries, and delivered the title deeds to the purchaser, in which were specified the situation, extent, boundaries, and price of the land sold. A register of sales was kept by the priests, the purchaser paying the fees; and it rarely occurred that lands sold in this manner were ever resumed by the crown, without some adequate compensation being made to the purchaser. PÚsÁkas given to chiefs for services performed, were recoverable again at pleasure, and always reverted to the crown on the demise of the chief to whom they had been granted: in all other respects, the same privileges were annexed to them as to the former. The holders of pÚsÁka lands were very seldom the occupants; they generally remained about the court, and on the approach of the rice harvest deputed agents to collect their share of the crop. They do not let their lands for specific periods. The cultivators are liable to be turned out at pleasure, and when ejected, have no claims to compensation for improvements made while in possession, such as water-courses, or plantations of fruit trees made by themselves or their parents."

"We must make a distinction," say the Dutch Commissioners appointed to investigate this subject in 1811, "between the PrÍangÉn regencies, the province of ChÉribon, and the eastern districts. Throughout the whole extent of the PrÍangen regencies exists a pretended property on uncultivated lands, on which no person can settle without the consent of the inhabitants of that dÉsa, or village. In the sÁwah fields, or cultivated lands, every inhabitant, from the Regent down to the lowest rank, has a share, and may act with it in what manner he pleases, either sell, let, or otherwise dispose of it, and loses that right only by leaving the village in a clandestine manner.

"In the province of ChÉribon, according to the ancient[Vol I Pg 158] constitution, each district and dÉsa, like the PrÍangen regencies, has its own lands; with the difference, however, that whilst those regencies are considered as belonging to villages and individuals, here the villages and lands are altogether the pretended property of the chiefs, or of the relations or favourites of the Sultans, who even might dispose of the same, with one exception, however, of that part allotted to the common people. Sometimes the Sultans themselves were owners of dÉsas and chiefs of the same; in which case the inhabitants were better treated than in the former instances. If an individual thought himself wronged by the chief, who either sold, hired out, or otherwise disposed of his lands, he took his revenge, not on that chief, but on the person who held possession of the property. To corroborate this statement it may be mentioned, that the lands in the district of ChÉribon were for the most part farmed out to Chinese, who increased their extortions in proportion as the chief raised his farm or rent, and thus almost deprived the common people of all their means.

"On the north-east coast of the eastern districts, no person can be called a proprietor of rice fields or other lands: the whole country belongs to government, and in this light do all the Regents consider it. The rice fields of a regency are divided among the whole of the population: in the division the chiefs have a share, according to their rank, occupations, or taxes they are paying.

"The chief enjoys his lands as long as he holds his station; the common people for a year only, when it falls to the share of another inhabitant of the dÉsa, or village, that all may reap a benefit from it in turn. The ideas of the Javans concerning tenures, thus appear to be of three kinds: in the SÚnda division they consist in allotting to the villages of uncultivated, and to individual persons of certain portions in the cultivated or sÁwah fields: in ChÉribon, the sultans and chiefs, as well as the common people, assert pretensions to similar allotments: in the eastern districts, on the contrary, nobody pretends to the possession of land; every one is satisfied with the regulation laid down, but if a man's share is withheld, he is apt to emigrate. No person considers himself bound to servitude. The Javans, however,[Vol I Pg 159] in the PrÍang'en regencies, in ChÉribon, and in the eastern districts, pretend to have an unquestionable right to all the fruit trees and sÍri plants, at or near their kÁmpung or dÉsa."

"There is not," says Mr. Knops, another of the Dutch Commissioners, "a single Javan, who supposes that the soil is the property of the Regent, but they all seem to be sensible that it belongs to government, usually called the sovereign among them; considering the Regent as a subject like themselves, who holds his district and authority from the sovereign. His idea of property is modified by the three kinds of subjects to which it is applied: rice fields, gÂgas, and fruit trees. A Javan has no rice fields he can call his own; those of which he had the use last year will be exchanged next year for others. They circulate (as in the regency of SemÁrang) from one person to another, and if any one were excluded, he would infallibly emigrate. It is different with the gÁgas, or lands where dry rice is cultivated: the cultivator who clears such lands from trees or brushwood, and reclaims them from a wilderness, considers himself as proprietor of the same, and expects to reap its fruits without diminution or deduction. With regard to fruit trees, the Javan cultivator claims those he has planted as his legal property, without any imposts: if a chief were to trespass against this right, the village would soon be deserted. The Javan, however, has not, in my opinion, any real idea of property even in his fruit trees, but usage passes with him for a law. All dispositions made by the chief, not contrary to custom or the Ádat, are considered as legal, and likewise all that would contribute to ease the people, by lessening or reducing the capitation tax, the contingent, the feudal services, in short all the charges imposed upon them. A different system would be contrary to custom. Whatever favours the people is legal, whatever oppresses them is an infraction of the custom."

The tenure of land in the native provinces is the same generally as in the eastern districts. Thus stands the question with regard to the proprietary right to the soil in Java; but it is of more consequence in an agricultural point of view, and consequently more to my present purpose, to inquire how that[Vol I Pg 160] right is generally exercised, than in whom it resides. Though the cultivator had no legal title to his lands, there might still be such a prevalent usage in favour of his perpetual occupancy, as would secure him in the enjoyment of his possession, and enable him to reap the fruits of his industry equally with the protection of his positive law.

But unfortunately for the prosperity of the people, this was far from being generally the case. The cultivator had little security for continued occupancy, but the power, on his part, of enduring unlimited oppression without removing from under it, or the interest of his immediate superior in retaining a useful slave; and as he could not expect to reap in safety the fruits of his industry, beyond the bare supply of his necessities, he carried that industry no farther than his necessities demanded. The sovereign knew little about the state of his tenantry or the conduct of his agents, and viewed the former only as instruments to create the resources, which the latter were employed to collect or administer. All his care was to procure as much from the produce of the soil and industry of his subjects as possible, and the complaints of the people, who suffered under the exactions of these chiefs, were intercepted on their way to the throne, and perhaps would have been disregarded had they reached it. The sovereign delegates his authority over a province of greater or less extent, to a high officer called AdipÁti, TumÚng'gung, or Ang'ebÁi, who is himself paid by the rent of certain portions of land, and is responsible for the revenues of the districts over which he is appointed. He, in his turn, elects an officer, called DemÁng or MÁntridÉsa, to administer the subdivisions or districts of the province, to appoint the chiefs, and to collect the rents of several villages. The village chief, BÚkul, LÚrah, or whatever designation he bears in the different parts of the island, thus appointed by his immediate superior, is placed in the administration of the village, required to collect the government share of the crop from the cultivator, and to account for it to the DemÁng. In some provinces, the village elects its own chief, called PetÍng'gi, who exercises similar functions with the BÚkul appointed by government, as will be afterwards more particularly observed in the account of the native administration. As all the officers of government, of whatever rank, are[Vol I Pg 161] paid their salaries in the produce of the land, the BÚkuls and the DemÁngs become responsible for the share of the appropriations of villages to this account, as much as if it went into the government treasury. They are themselves paid by the reservation of a certain share of what they collect, and of course are always ready to please their employers, and to increase their own emoluments, by enforcing every practicable exaction. Every officer has unlimited power over those below him, and is himself subject to the capricious will of the sovereign or his minister. When the Regent makes any new or exorbitant demand upon those whom he immediately superintends, they must exact it with an increased degree of rigor over the chiefs of villages, who are thus, in their turn, forced to press upon the cultivator, with the accumulated weight of various gradations of despotism.

The BÚkul, or the PetÍng'gi is the immediate head of the village, and however much his authority is modified in particular districts, has always extensive powers. To the cultivators, he appears in the character of the real landholder, as they have no occasion to look beyond him to the superior, by whom he is controlled. He distributes the lands to the different cultivators on such shares, and in such conditions, as he pleases, or as custom warrants, assesses the rents they have to pay, allots them their village duties, measures the produce of their fields, and receives the government proportion. He sometimes himself cultivates a small portion of land, and in so far is regarded only as a tenant, like the rest of the villagers. He is accountable for all the collections he realizes, with the reservation of a fifth part for his trouble, which share must be viewed merely as the emoluments of office, and not as the rent of the landlord, or the profits of a farmer. He sometimes holds his situation immediately of the sovereign, or by the election of the cultivators; but more generally from the intermediate agent of government, whom I have mentioned above, to whom he is accountable for his receipts. By his superior he may be removed at pleasure; although the local knowledge and accumulated means, which are the consequence of the possession of office, generally insure its duration to his person for a considerable period, or as long as his superior himself retains his power. [Vol I Pg 162]

The lands which he superintends and apportions range from six or seven to double that number of jungs, or from forty or fifty to an hundred acres English, and these are divided among the inhabitants of his village, generally varying from about two acres to half an acre each. That this minute division of land takes place, may be shewn from the surveys made under the British government in the eastern provinces, which nearly resemble those under the dominion of the native princes, and consequently may be taken as indicating the general state of the island. The inhabitants in the agricultural districts of the residency of SurabÁya amount in all to 129,938: these compose 33,141 families, of which 32,618 belong to the class of cultivators, and 523 belonging to other professions pay only a ground rent for their houses. The area of the province contains about twelve hundred square miles, or 34,955 jungs, about 20,000 only of which are cultivated, so as to become of any consequence in the division of lands among the villages, the number of which amount to 2,770. By a calculation founded on these data, it would appear, that each village averages about twelve families, that a family falls considerably short of the average of four, and that a little more than seven jungs are allotted to a village. In KedÚ the population amounts to 197,310, the number of villages to 3879, and the quantity of cultivated land to 19,052 jungs; so that in this province there are about five jungs attached to a village; and a village is inhabited by fifty-one souls, or about twelve or thirteen families. In GrÉsik, the number of villages amount to 1396, the quantity of cultivated land to 17,018 jungs, and the population to 115,442 souls. In ProbalÍng'o and BesÚki, the numbers are?—of inhabitants, 104,359; of villages, 827; of cultivated land, 13,432 jungs. In these two last the proportions vary, the number of jungs to a village in the former being more than twelve, and of inhabitants more than eighty, or about twenty families; and in the latter, the proportion is more than one hundred and twenty souls to a village possessed of more than sixteen jungs of land. It would be superfluous to state any more examples. In different parts of the island, there are variations within certain limits; but the quantity of land occupied by one cultivator seldom exceeds a bÁhu, (or the quarter of a jung), although the quantity occupied[Vol I Pg 163] by a village, as will be seen by the above instances, varies from five to sixteen, according to the extent of the population.

The land allotted to each separate cultivator is managed by himself exclusively; and the practice of labouring in common, which is usual among the inhabitants of the same village on continental India, is here unknown. Every one, generally speaking, has his own field, his own plough, his own buffaloes or oxen; prepares his farm with his own hand, or the assistance of his family at seed-time, and reaps it by the same means at harvest. By the recent surveys, when every thing concerning the wealth and the resources of the country became the subject of inquiry, and means were employed to obtain the most accurate information, it was ascertained, that the number of buffaloes on that part of the island to which these surveys extended, was nearly in the proportion of one to a family, or a pair to two families; and that, including the yokes of oxen, which are to those of buffaloes as one to three, this proportion would be very much exceeded. In some provinces, more exclusively devoted to grain cultivation, the number of ploughs, and of course oxen or buffaloes, nearly amounts to one to a family. In other cases, where they fall much short of this proportion, a considerable part of the inhabitants must be engaged in labours unconnected with agriculture, or the cultivators must be engaged in rearing produce, where the assistance of those animals is not required. Thus in JapÁra and JawÁna, where the number of inhabitants is 103,290, or about twenty-six thousand families, the number of ploughs amount to 20,730, and of buffaloes to 43,511; while in the Batavian Regencies, where the coffee culture employs a considerable part of the inhabitants, the number of families is about sixty thousand, and of ploughs only 17,366. The lands on Java are so minutely divided among the inhabitants of the villages, that each receives just as much as can maintain his family and employ his individual industry.

[Vol I Pg 164]

But situated as the Javan peasantry are, there is but little inducement to invest capital in agriculture, and much labour must be unprofitably wasted: as property is insecure, there can be no desire of accumulation; as food is easily procured, there can be no necessity for vigorous labour. There exists, as a consequence of this state of nature and of the laws, few examples of great affluence or abject distress among the peasantry; no rich men, and no common beggars. Under the native governments and the Regents of the Dutch Company, there were no written leases or engagements binding for a term of years; nor could such contracts well be expected to be formed with an officer, who held his own place by so unstable a tenure as the will of a despot. The cultivator bargained with the BÚkul or PetÍng'gi for a season or for two crops, had his land measured off by the latter, and paid a stipulated portion of the produce either in money or in kind. When the crop had arrived at maturity, the cultivator, if his engagement was for so much of the produce in kind, cut down his own share, and left that of the landlord on the ground.

The proportion of the crop paid as rent varied with the kind of land, or produce, and the labour employed by the cultivator. In the sÁwah lands, the share demanded by the landlord rarely exceeded one-half, and might fall as low as one-fourth, according as the quality of the soil was good or bad, or the labour employed in irrigating or otherwise preparing it was greater or less. In tÉgal lands, the rent paid varied from one-third to one-fifth of the produce; a diminution to be attributed to the uncertainty of the crop, and the necessity of employing more labour to realize an equal produce than on the other species of cultivation. In cases where there was a second crop of less value than the principal rice or maize crop, no additional demand was made upon the additional grain reaped by the farmer.

If such rates had been equitably fixed, after a deliberate estimate of the proportion between the labour of the cultivator and his produce, and if from the best kind of sÁwah no more than the half had been required, with a scale of rents diminishing as labour increased or the soil deteriorated, the peasant could have had no reason to complain of the exactions[Vol I Pg 165] of government A jung of the best sÁwah lands will produce between forty and fifty Ámats of pÁri, each Ámat weighing about one thousand pounds. Suppose a cultivator occupied a quarter of a jung of such land, he would reap ten Ámats, or ten thousand pounds of pÁri, and allowing a half for the government deduction, would still retain five thousand pounds, which is equal to about eight quarters of wheat. The best sÁwah lands return about forty-fold; sÁwah lands of the second quality yield from thirty to forty Ámats the jung; and they are considered of inferior quality when they yield less than thirty. From these last, two-fifths or one-third was required as the landlord's share. TÉgal lands were assessed at one-third, one fourth, or one-fifth of their produce, according to their quality, and their produce in value is about a fourth of sÁwah lands of the same relative degree in the scale. In Bengal, according to Mr. Colebrooke's excellent account of its husbandry, "the landlord's proportion of the crop was one-half, two-fifths, and a third, according to the difference of circumstances." The value in money of a crop of rice grown on a jung of the best land under the wet cultivation, may amount to one hundred and sixty Spanish dollars; and on a bÁhu (the space occupied by an individual cultivator), forty dollars. I formerly stated the price of the implements of husbandry, the price of buffaloes or oxen, the expence of building a house, and providing it with the necessary furniture. The whole farming stock of a villager may be purchased for about fifteen or sixteen dollars, or for little more than a third part of the produce of his land in one year. The price of labour, the price of cattle and of grain, as well as the fertility of the soil, varies in different parts of the island; but, in general, it may be laid down as an indisputable proposition, that from the natural bounty of the soil, the peasantry might derive all the means of subsistence and comfort, without any great exertion of ingenuity, or any severity of toil, if their government made no greater demand than the shares stated above.

But besides the rent which the cultivator paid for his land, he was liable to many more grievous burdens. The great objection to a tax levied on land, and consisting in a certain share of its produce, arises from the effect that it has in ob[Vol I Pg 166]structing improvements; but there were other imposts and contributions exacted from the peasantry, which were positively and immediately oppressive. A ground-rent for houses, called pachÚmplang, was prevalent over many parts of the island, amounting in the provinces subject to the native princes, to one-sixth or seventh of a dollar for each dwelling or cottage. The cultivator, in some parts of the country, instead of paying this tax, was obliged to pay for his fruit trees. In some districts there was a capitation tax; arbitrary fines were levied in others, and contributions on the birth or marriage of the children of the superior, regent, or the prince. There were several charges made on the villages, that had a more immediate reference to their own advantage, but which nevertheless were felt as burdens; such as contributions for the repair of roads, of bridges, for the making or repair of water-courses, dams, and other works necessary for irrigation. Demands on the inhabitants for charitable and religious objects or institutions are universal, though not very oppressive. Every village has its priest, who depends upon the contributions of the peasantry for his support, receiving so much rice or pÁri as his salary. The taxes on the internal trade of the country extended to every article of manufacture, produce, or consumption, and being invariably farmed out to Chinese, who employed every mode of extortion that their ingenuity could invent, or the passive disposition of the people would allow them to practice, constituted an inexhaustible source of oppression: to these we may add the feudal services and forced deliveries required under the Dutch government.

The following observations extracted from two reports, the one on Bantam, at the western side of the island, and the other on PasÚruan, almost at its other extremity, were unhappily by no means inapplicable to the greatest part of the intermediate space, and contain by no means an exaggerated representation. "The holders of pÚsaka lands in Bantam were very seldom the occupants; they generally remained about court, and on the approach of the pÁri harvest deputed agents to collect their share of the crop. But what proportion their share would bear to the whole produce does not appear to be well defined: it is by one stated at a fifth, and by some (which I suspect to be nearest the[Vol I Pg 167] truth) at as much as the cultivator could afford to pay, the agents of the proprietors being the judges of the quantity. The proprietors of the pÚsakas have also a claim to the services of the cultivators: a certain number of them are always in attendance at the houses of their chiefs, and on journies are employed in carrying their persons and baggage. The lands not pÚsaka used to pay the same proportion of produce to the Sultan as the others did to the proprietors; but the cultivators of the royal dominions laboured under greater disadvantages than the others. Every chief or favourite about court had authority to employ them in the most menial offices; and chiefs possessing pÚsakas, often spared their own people and employed the others. The Sultan always had a right to enforce the culture of any article which he thought proper to direct; and, in such cases, a price was paid upon the produce, which was generally very inadequate to the expences."

"It may be very desirable," says Mr. Jourdan, in his report on the completion of the settlement of PasÚruan, "that I should mention a few of the oppressions from which it is the object of the present system to relieve the people. I cannot but consider the greatest of these, the extent of the personal service demanded, not only by the TumÚng'gung and his family, but the MÁntris and all the petty chiefs, who had trains of followers that received no stipendiary recompence. These added to the individuals employed in the coffee plantations (to which they appear peculiarly averse), in beating out the rice for the contingent, in cutting grass for and attending the jÁyang sekÁrs, post carriage and letter-carriers, may be calculated to have employed one-fifth of the male population of the working men. Another great source of exaction was the large unwieldy establishment of jÁyang sekÁrs, and police officers: the former were liberally paid, the latter had no regular emoluments. Both these classes, however, quartered themselves freely in whatever part of the country their functions demanded their attendance. This was equally the case with any of the Regent's family or petty chiefs who travelled for pleasure or on duty. Whatever was required for themselves and their followers, was taken from the poor inhabitants, who have now been so[Vol I Pg 168] long accustomed to such practices, that they never dare to complain or to remonstrate. The European authority did not escape the taint of corruption. Monopolies, unpaid services, licences, forced or at least expected presents, were but too common even in the best times, and must have contributed to estrange the affections and respect of the natives from that power which should have afforded them protection. From this faint sketch it will be deduced, that while the men of rank were living in pampered luxury, the poor provincials were suffering penury and distress."

The Dutch Company, actuated solely by the spirit of gain, and viewing their Javan subjects with less regard or consideration than a West-India planter formerly viewed the gang upon his estate, because the latter had paid the purchase money of human property which the other had not, employed all the pre-existing machinery of despotism, to squeeze from the people their utmost mite of contribution, the last dregs of their labour, and thus aggravated the evils of a capricious and semi-barbarous government, by working it with all the practised ingenuity of politicians, and all the monopolizing selfishness of traders.

Can it therefore be a subject of surprize, that the arts of agriculture and the improvement of society, have made no greater advances in Java? Need it excite wonder, that the implements of husbandry are simple; that the cultivation is unskilful and inartificial; that the state of the roads, where European convenience is not consulted, is bad; that the natural advantages of the country are neglected; that so little enterprize is displayed or capital employed; that the peasant's cottage is mean, and that so little wealth and knowledge are among the agricultural population; when it is considered, that the occupant of land enjoys no security for reaping the fruits of his industry; when his possession is liable to be taken away from him every season, or to suffer such an enhancement of rent as will drive him from it; when such a small quantity of land only is allowed him as will yield him bare subsistence, and every ear of grain that can be spared from the supply of his immediate wants, is extorted from him in the shape of tribute; when his personal services are required unpaid for, in the train of luxury or in the cul[Vol I Pg 169]ture of articles of monopoly; and when, in addition to all these discouragements, he is subject to other heavy imposts and impolitic restraints? No man will exert himself, when acting for another, with so much zeal as when stimulated by his own immediate interest; and under a system of government, where every thing but the bare means of subsistence is liable to be seized, nothing but the means of subsistence will be sought to be attained. The Dutch accuse the Javans of indolent habits and fraudulent dispositions; but surely the oppressor has no right to be surprized, that the oppressed appear reluctant in his service, that they meet his exactions with evasion, and answer his call to labour with sluggish indifference.

The mode of dividing land into minute portions is decidedly favourable to population, and nothing but those checks to the progress of agriculture, to which I have referred, could have limited the population of Java to numbers so disproportioned to its fertility, or confined the labours of the peasantry to so small a space of what would reward their industry with abundance. The cultivated ground on the Island has already been estimated at an eighth part of the whole area. In ProbolÍng'o and BesÚki, the total number of jungs of land amount to 775,483, the total of land capable of superior cultivation 174,675 jungs, while the space actually cultivated amounts only to 13,432 jungs. In RembÁng, the land belonging to villages is about 40,000 jungs, and not the half of that quantity is under cultivation. In PasÚruan, the same appearances are exhibited. From this last district the Resident's report on the settlement states, as a reason for his assessing the same rent on all the land, "that the cultivated part bearing so small a proportion to the uncultivated, the inhabitants have been enabled to select the most fruitful spots exclusively: hence arises the little variety I have discovered in the produce." ChÉribon, Bantam, the Priang'en regencies, the eastern corner of the Island, the provinces under the native governments, and in short the greatest and most fertile districts, furnish striking illustrations of this disproportion between the bounty of nature and the inefficient exertions of man to render her gifts available, to extend population, and to promote human happiness; or rather they supply an example[Vol I Pg 170] of unwise institutions and despotic government, counteracting the natural progress of both.

When the British arms prevailed in 1811, the attention of government was immediately turned to the state and interests of its new subjects. It saw at once the natural advantages of the Island and the causes which obstructed its prosperity, and it determined to effect those changes which, having succeeded in Western India, and being sanctioned by justice and expediency, were likely to improve those advantages and to remove those obstructions. In consequence of the instructions of Lord Minto, the Governor-General, who was present at the conquest, and took a great interest in the settlement of the Island, no time was lost to institute inquiries and to collect information on the state of the peasantry, and the other points, the knowledge of which was necessary, before any attempt to legislate could be wisely or rationally made. The following principles, laid down by his Lordship, were those on which the local government acted.

"Contingents of rice, and indeed of other productions, have been hitherto required of the cultivators by government at an arbitrary rate: this also is a vicious system, to be abandoned as soon as possible. The system of contingents did not arise from the mere solicitude for the supply of the people, but was a measure alone of finance and control, to enable government to derive a revenue from a high price imposed on the consumer, and to keep the whole body of the people dependent on its pleasure for subsistence. I recommend a radical reform in this branch to the serious and early attention of government. The principle of encouraging industry in the cultivation and improvements of lands, by creating an interest in the effort and fruits of that industry, can be expected in Java only by a fundamental change of the whole system of landed property and tenure. A wide field, but a somewhat distant one, is open to this great and interesting improvement; the discussion of the subject, however, must necessarily be delayed till the investigation it requires is more complete. I shall transmit such thoughts as I have entertained, and such hopes as I have indulged in this grand object of amelioration; but I am to request the aid of all the information, and all the lights, that this[Vol I Pg 171] Island can afford. On this branch, nothing must be done that is not mature, because the exchange is too extensive to be suddenly or ignorantly attempted. But fixed and immutable principles of the human character and of human association, assure me of ultimate, and I hope not remote success, in views that are consonant with every motive of action that operate on man, and are justified by the practice and experience of every flourishing country of the world."

In compliance with these instructions, the object of which was embraced with zeal by the local government, to whom his lordship entrusted the administration of the Island, a commission was appointed, under the able direction of Colonel Mackenzie, to prosecute statistic inquiries; the results of which, as corrected and extended by subsequent surveys, will frequently appear in the tables and statistic accounts of this work. The nature of the landed tenure, and the demand made upon agriculture, in all the shapes of rent and taxes, were ascertained; the extortions practised by the Dutch officers, the native princes, the regents, and the Chinese, were disclosed; the rights of all classes, by law or usage, investigated; the state of the population, the quantity and value of cultivated land, of forests, of plantations of cotton and coffee, the quantity of live stock, and other resources of the country subject to colonial administration, inquired into and made known. The result of these inquiries, with regard to landed tenure, I have given above; and, as it will be seen, it was such as opposed the rights of no intermediate class between the local government and the beneficial changes it contemplated in behalf of the great body of the people. After attaining the requisite information, the course which expediency, justice, and political wisdom pointed out was not doubtful, and coincided (as in most cases it will be found to do) with the track which enlightened benevolence, and a zealous desire to promote the happiness of the people would dictate.

The peasant was subject to gross oppression and undefined exaction: our object was to remove his oppressor, and to limit demand to a fixed and reasonable rate of contribution. He was liable to restraints on the freedom of inland trade, to personal services and forced contingents: our object was to commute them all for a fixed and well-known contribution. The[Vol I Pg 172] exertions of his industry were reluctant and languid, because he had little or no interest in its fruits: our object was to encourage that industry, by connecting its exertions with the promotion of his own individual welfare and prosperity. Capital could not be immediately created, nor agricultural skill acquired; but by giving the cultivator a security, that whatever he accumulated would be for his own benefit, and whatever improvement he made, he or his family might enjoy it, a motive was held out to him to exert himself in the road to attain both. Leases, or contracts for fixed rents for terms of years, in the commencement, and eventually in perpetuity, seemed to be the only mode of satisfying the cultivator, that he would not be liable, as formerly, to yearly undefined demands; while freedom from all taxes but an assessment on his crop, or rather a fixed sum in commutation thereof, would leave him at full liberty to devote the whole of his attention and labour to render his land as productive as possible.

In conformity with these views, an entire revolution was effected in the mode of levying the revenue, and assessing the taxes upon agriculture. The foundation of the amended system was, 1st. The entire abolition of forced deliveries at inadequate rates, and of all feudal services, with the establishment of a perfect freedom in cultivation and trade: 2d. The assumption, on the part of government, of the immediate superintendence of the lands, with the collection of the resources and rents thereof: 3d. The renting out of the lands so assumed to the actual occupants, in large or small estates, according to local circumstances, on leases for a moderate term. In the course of the following years (1814 and 1815) these measures were carried into execution in most of the districts under our government, with a view to the eventual establishment of a perpetual settlement, on the principle of the ryotwar, or as it has been termed on Java, the tiÁng-Álit system.

The principles of land rental and detailed settlement were few and simple[48]. After mature inquiry, no obstacle appeared [Vol I Pg 173]to exist, either in law or usage, to the interference of government, in regulating the condition of the peasantry; and it was [Vol I Pg 174]resolved, therefore, that it should take into its own hands the management of that share of the land produce which was allowed to be its due, and protect the cultivator in the enjoyment and free disposal of the remainder. The undue power of the chiefs was to be removed, and so far as they had a claim for support, founded either on former services or deprivation of expected employment, they were to be remunerated in another way. The lands, after being surveyed and estimated, were to be parcelled out among the inhabitants of the villages, in the proportions established by custom or recommended by expediency. Contracts were to be entered into with each individual cultivator, who was to become the tenant of government, and leases specifying the extent and situation of their land, with the conditions of their tenure, were to be granted for one or more years, with a view to permanency, if at the end of the stipulated term, the arrangement should be found to combine the interest of the public revenue with the welfare and increasing prosperity of the occupant. If that was not the case, room was thus left for a new adjustment, for a reduction of rate, or for any change in the system which might adapt it more to the interests and wishes of the people, without prejudice to the rights of government.

This experiment hazarded nothing, and held out every prospect of success; it committed no injustice, and compromised no claim. The peasantry could not suffer, because an assessment less in amount, and levied in a less oppressive manner than formerly (all rents, taxes, and services included), [Vol I Pg 175]was required of them: the chiefs could not complain, because they were allowed the fair emoluments of office, and only restrained from oppressions which did not so much benefit themselves as injure their inferiors. Most of the latter were not only allowed an equivalent for their former income, but employed in services allied to their former duties,?—the collection of the revenue, and the superintendence of the police. As the cultivator had acquired rights which the chief could not violate, as the former held in his possession a lease with the conditions on which he cultivated his farm, no infringement of which could be attempted on the part of the latter with impunity, no evil could result from employing the chiefs in collecting the revenue of districts, while, from their practical knowledge of the habits and individual concerns of the peasantry, of the nature of the seasons and the crops, they were the fittest persons for the office. For these services it seemed most expedient to pay them, either by allowing them a certain percentage on their collections, or by allotting them portions of land rent free. The village constitution (which will be more particularly noticed in treating of the institutions of the country) was preserved inviolate; and the chiefs or head men of the villages, in many instances elected by the free will of the villagers, were invariably continued in office as the immediate collectors of the rents, and with sufficient authority to preserve the police, and adjust the petty disputes that might arise within them; the government scrupulously avoiding all unnecessary interference in the customs, usages, and details of these societies.

In looking at the condition of the peasantry, and in estimating the fertility of the soil, the wants of the people, and the proportion of produce and industry that they formerly were accustomed to pay for supporting the establishments of government, it was thought reasonable to commute all former burdens into a land rent on a fixed principle; all sÁwah lands being estimated by the pÁri, or unhusked rice, they could produce, and all tÉgal lands by their produce in maize. The following (as stated in the eighty-third article of the Revenue Instructions) was considered as the fairest scale for fixing the government share, and directed to be referred to, as much as possible, as the general standard: [Vol I Pg 176]

"Government," it is said in the eighty-fifth section, "think it necessary to declare explicitly, that they will be satisfied when the land revenue shall be productive to them in these proportions, determining at no future period to raise the scale; so that the inhabitants, being thus exactly acquainted with what will form the utmost demand on them, and resting in full confidence that government will not exact any thing further, may in that security enjoy their possessions in undisturbed happiness, and apply their utmost industry to the improvement of their lands; assured that, while they conduct themselves well, that land will never be taken from them, and that the more productive they can render it, the more beneficial it will be for themselves."

The government share might either be received in money or in kind from the sÁwah lands; but the tÉgal produce, though estimated in maize, was always, if possible, to be commuted into money at the lowest price in the market; and as cultivators generally held portions of both, this rule, it was conceived, could not be considered generally as a hardship.

In the first settlement, leases were only granted for a year, or at the utmost three years, and were given to intermediate renters; but in the more detailed settlement of 1814, after sufficient information had been collected on the state of the country, government determined to act directly with the individual cultivator, and to lay the foundation of a permanent system. By this latter period, the experiments have been tried to a certain extent, and had succeeded beyond the most sanguine expectation. Difficulties met us in the way, but they were by no means insurmountable; there were at first imperfections in the system, but they did not affect its prin[Vol I Pg 177]ciple, and were easily removed. By the zeal, the ability, and industry of the various officers entrusted with the execution of the duty, whatever was practicable in furtherance of the object in which they felt deeply interested, was accomplished. In the course of the years 1814 and 1815, the new system was introduced into Bantam, ChÉribon, and the eastern districts, over a population of a million and a half of cultivators, not only without disturbance and opposition, but to the satisfaction of all classes of the natives, and to the manifest increase of the public revenue derivable from land. In several journies which I undertook into the different provinces, for the purposes of examining in person the effect of the progressive system of reform which I had the happiness to introduce, and of lending the sanction of official authority to such modifications of it as local circumstances might render advisable, I was a pleased spectator of its beneficial tendency, and of the security and satisfaction it universally diffused. The cultivator, protected against all vexatious exactions, and no longer at the beck of a tyrannical chief who made unlimited demands upon his personal services, was beginning to feel additional stimulants to his industry, to acquire a superior relish for property, and to acknowledge that government and power were not always the enemies of the lower ranks of society, or as they modestly call themselves, the little people (tiang-halit). The British administration of Java, with all its agents, having watched the progress of the amended system at first with vigilant anxiety, at last saw it nearly completed with success, and rejoiced in its beneficial operation on the prosperity, improvement, and happiness of the people. During the two years that we retained possession of the island, after the greatest part of its arrangements were carried into effect, we had daily proofs of the amelioration they were producing. The cultivation was extending, the influence of the chiefs appeared to be progressively weakening, and the number of crimes, both from the superior industry of the people now become interested in the result of their labours, and from the contented tranquillity produced by an increase of the means of subsistence, as well as from the amended system of police (mentioned in another part of this work), was gradually diminishing. Without[Vol I Pg 178] troubling the reader with further details, I may mention that, in the beginning of December 1815, a few months before I left the island, not satisfied with my own observation or the vague report of others, I circulated specific queries to the different residents, on the comparative state of cultivation in the different provinces, before the introduction of the detailed settlement, and at the latest date to which an answer could be returned, and on the comparative number of crimes at the same two periods, and the return was as gratifying to humanity and benevolence as it was corroborative of the opinions previously formed. I shall quote a few extracts from these reports. The Resident at ChÉribon "cannot, from certain data, tell what progress has been made in extending the cultivation of that province, but thinks it has been considerable;" and adds, "I have no doubt but that a few years of the amended system of government would render the district of ChÉribon, so notorious for crimes, one of the most flourishing and valuable in any part of the island." The Resident of TÉgal is nearly in similar circumstances with regard to authentic documents, but gives a very favourable opinion, both with regard to the increase of industry and the reduction of crimes. The return from KedÚ is more definite: it states a positive increase of tÉgal land to the amount of thirty-six jungs, but a much greater increase of produce from improved culture. The revenue afforded a sufficient proof of the latter fact. The same favourable account is given of the state of police and the diminution of crime. No data are given in the report from PakalÁng'an to ascertain the additional quantity of rice lands brought into cultivation; but an opinion is expressed, that it has increased; and an assurance is afforded, that the culture of indigo and tobacco has sensibly extended. As an evidence that the means of subsistence are raised in greater abundance than formerly, their price has very considerably diminished.

A commission which was appointed to inquire into the state of the revenue, report from JapÁra the great facility there was in collecting the revenue under the amended system, and certify its beneficial effects in extending cultivation, securing tranquillity, promoting industry, and diminishing crimes. The same commission conclude their[Vol I Pg 179] report of GrÉsik with similar assurances of the happy results of the revenue, and judicial arrangements for the prosperity of that province. The Resident of RembÁng gives an increase of cultivation of fifty-two jungs of sÁwah and about thirteen of tÉgal land, and accounts for the smallness of this increase from the comparative sterility of the soil, and the precarious supply of water. Indigo had not increased, but tobacco had to a great degree. The vigilance of the police, and the ameliorating effects of the revenue settlement, are seen, it is said, in the improved state of morals. In SurabÁya it is stated, that during the time the amended system had been in action, there had been an increase of three hundred and twenty government jungs, making upwards of two thousand English acres. In the residency of PasÚruan there is an increase of cultivation to the amount of three hundred and six jungs: this, however, does not comprehend the whole advantage that the new system produced in that province, for industry had been so much promoted by it, as to obtain two crops within the year, on many of the lands where the cultivator was formerly content with one. It is needless to enter into any further particulars, to shew the advantages of the regulations adopted with regard to the settlement of the landed revenue.

By a steady adherence to a system which, even in its origin, was productive of such fruits, by continuing to the peasant the protection of laws made for his benefit, by allowing full scope to his industry, and encouraging his natural propensity to accumulate, agriculture on Java would soon acquire a different character: it would soon become active and enterprising; there would soon be created a difference in farms and in the circumstances of individuals; capital would be fixed and augmented in the hands of the skilful and the industrious among the cultivators; the idle and the indifferent would relinquish their possessions in their favour; roads, intercourse, and markets would be increased, the organization of society would be changed, and an improved race would shew themselves, in some measure, worthy of the most fertile region of the globe. What Egypt and Sicily were in different ages to the south of Europe, Java[Vol I Pg 180] might become to the south of Asia and the Indian Archipelago. From the exertion with which the British government endeavoured to lay the foundation of such improvements, at first amid the embarrassments of a recent conquest, and latterly with the prospect of only an intermediate possession; from the attachment it cherished for a people whose gratitude it deserved and acquired, and from the interest that every friend of humanity must feel in the anticipation of seeing this highly favoured island, the metropolis, the granary, and the centre of civilization to the vast regions between the coast of China and the Bay of Bengal, it might have been expected, that those who were instrumental in introducing the late arrangements, should watch with peculiar anxiety the first movements of the power to which the colony was transferred, and should look into the regulations for its Indian empire for the support, or the death-blow, of the most animating hopes. It must therefore be with peculiar satisfaction that we see, with regard to the freedom of cultivation, the Dutch government sanctions what we had done, and gives our regulations permanency by embodying them in its colonial policy. In articles seventy-eight and seventy-nine of the fundamental laws for the civil, judicial, and mercantile administration of India[49], we find the following enactments. "The free cultivation of all articles of produce which may be raised in the possessions of the state in India, is granted to the inhabitants of these possessions; with the exception of cloves, nutmegs, and opium, and without prejudice to the regulations which might be adopted concerning the contingents and forced deliveries, which on a resumption of these possessions out of the hands of the English, will be found to be continued in force. All the fruits of cultivation raised within the possessions of the states beyond the forced deliveries, and every kind of produce not comprehended under the exceptions mentioned above, are to be the lawful property of the cultivator. The free unrestrained disposal thereof belongs to him of right, as soon as the land rent assessed thereon, either in kind or money, shall be [Vol I Pg 181]paid. It is the duty of the Indian administration to maintain him in these rights." Let him be maintained in those rights, and the Dutch government will realize a revenue far beyond the amount of their former assessments, without, as formerly, disgracing the Europeans in the eyes of the Asiatic, by their weakness, corruption, and injustice.