It is here proposed to state the progress made by the Javans in a few of the common arts and handicrafts, and in one or two of the more extensive manufactures; their docility in working under European direction, and some other observations, which could not be so appropriately placed in any other part of this work. I have already had occasion to notice the limited skill and simple contrivances with which they carry on the labours of agriculture, and prepare the produce of the soil for consumption, in the various ways that their taste or their habits require. In a country like Java, where the structure of society is simple, and the wants of the people are few, where there is no accumulation of capital and little division of professions, it cannot be expected that manufacturing skill should be acquired, or manufacturing enterprize encouraged, to any great extent. The family of a Javan peasant is almost independent of any labour but that of its own members. The furniture, the clothing, and almost every article required for a family, being prepared within its own precincts, no extensive market of manufactured commodities is necessary for the supply of the island itself; and for foreign trade, the produce of their soil is more in demand than the fruits of their skill or industry. In a country where nature is bountiful, and where so much of her bounty can be collected with so little labour to pay for manufactures from abroad, there is but little encouragement to withdraw the natives from the rice field, the forest, or the coffee-garden, to the loom, the forge, or the workshop; and it is not in this respect, certainly, that a change of their habits would be beneficial. This short notice[Vol I Pg 183] of Javan manufactures, therefore, must be very limited, both in the number of the articles that it embraces, and in the importance that Europeans may attach to them: for Java can neither send us porcelain, like China; nor silks, shawls, and cottons, like Western India. To a nation, however, so much accustomed as we are to the exertions of manufacturing skill and perfection of manufacturing machinery, it may not be uninteresting to see the simple means, by which a half-civilized people accomplish the objects which we attain by such expeditious and ingenious processes. The most experienced naval architect may be interested by the manner in which a savage scoops his canoe.

The Javans have names in their language for most of the handicrafts. The following enumeration of terms applied to trades and professions will shew the extent to which the division of labour is sometimes carried, while the foreign extraction of some of them may, perhaps, serve to point out the source whence they were derived.

I shall proceed to describe a few of the manufactures of the island, without attending much to the order in which it might be proper to arrange them. The construction of a habitation is among the first and most necessary arts of uncivilized man, as the perfection of architecture is one of the most convincing proofs and striking illustrations of a high state of refinement. I have already described the hut of the peasant, and have mentioned that it is generally constructed of wood. Such structures suit the climate of the country, and save the labour of the people; but they are not rendered necessary by an ignorance of more durable materials.

Bricks are manufactured in almost every part of the island, being generally employed in the better sort of buildings, not only by Europeans and Chinese, but by the natives of rank. The quality of the clay varies greatly in different districts. It is all obtained from the decomposition of the basaltic stones, and possesses different degrees of purity, according to the proportion and nature of the other earths which are adventitiously mixed with it. In some parts of the island it is very pure, and might be advantageously employed in the manufacture of porcelain; but the natives are unacquainted with the principles of this art: some instruction in the glazing of their pottery would be of very general benefit. They are unacquainted with the process of making glass.

Cut stones are, at present, but rarely used by the Javans, and stone-cutting is almost exclusively performed by the Chinese. But although the Javans do not, at present, possess or practice any considerable skill in this art, the extensive remains of edifices constructed in stone, and of idols carved from the same materials, afford abundant testimony that the arts of[Vol I Pg 185] architecture, sculpture, and statuary in stone, at one period reached to a very high pitch on Java. As, however, these arts have long been lost to the Javans, the consideration of them rather falls within the department of antiquities than that which we are now upon.

In the vicinity of GrÉsik there are several hills composed of a soft white stone, which hardens on exposure to the air. Stones are here cut in the quarry into regular squares of various sizes, from that of a brick to the largest tomb-stone. They are principally required for the latter purpose, and in the cemeteries of GrÉsik and MadÚra the inscriptions upon them are very neatly executed. Beyond this, the skill of the natives in stone-cutting does not at present pretend.

The covering of the native houses is generally of thatch. In the maritime districts, Átap, or thatch, is made almost exclusively from the leaves of the nÍpa or bÚyu. In the preparation, the leaflets separated from the common petiol are employed. Being doubled, they are attached close to each other on a stick of three feet in length, and when thus arranged are placed on the roof, like shingles or tiles. The leaves of the gÉbang, on account of their fan-like form, are differently arranged: they constitute large mats, which are chiefly employed for sides of houses or for composing temporary sheds, but they are too large and brittle to form durable Átap. In the interior districts, where nÍpa does not grow, the houses are almost uniformly thatched with a species of long grass called alang-alang (the lÁlang of the Malay countries). Near large forests, where bÁmbu abounds, the natives cover their houses with this reed. The leaflets of the cocoa-nut cannot be made into thatch, but wherever the sago and nÍpa grow, it is made from their leaflets.

An article of household furniture in use among all classes, and displaying in some cases considerable beauty and delicacy of execution, is matting. Mats are made from several species of pandanus, from a kind of grass called mÁndong, and from the leaves of various palms. A species of the latter affords the most common kinds, coarser and less durable than others, as well as bags (straw sacks) resembling coarse mats: the leaves being divided into laminÆ, about one line in breadth, are woven in the same manner and on the same frames as[Vol I Pg 186] coarse linen. These fibres, called Ágel, are sometimes manufactured into twine, which possesses but little strength. The mats or bags, called kÁrong, are much inferior to the gunny-bags of India.

The coarsest kinds of mats, employed chiefly by the lower class, are called in the central districts klÓso bÓngko; those prepared from grass, klÓso mÁndong; and the others, klÓso psÁntrem (from the place where they are made). The materials of all these are plaited by hand. The klÓso psÁntrem are of superior quality, and in use through the central and eastern parts of the island; especially among the natives of the first class, with whom they constitute the principal furniture of the dwelling-house. A person of the highest rank aspires to no luxury, more delicate or expensive in this way, than the possession of a bed composed of mats from psÁntrem.

A kind of umbrella hat worn by the common people, and universal in the SÚnda districts denominated chÁpeng, is also manufactured in this manner, principally from bÁmbu, dyed of various colours, which being shaped in the form and of the size of a large wash-hand basin worn reversed, is rendered impervious to the wet by one or more coverings of varnish.

A great part of the manufacturing ingenuity of every people must be displayed in collecting the materials, or arranging the fabrics of those articles of clothing, required for protection, decency, or ornament. Whether these materials are derived from the fleece, the fur, or the feathers of the larger animals, from the covering of an insect, the bark of a tree, or the down of a shrub, they have to undergo several laborious and expensive processes before they are fit for use; and in conducting these processes, or forming machinery for rendering them more expeditious, complete, and easy, the superior manufacturing skill of one nation over another is chiefly evinced. The sheep on Java, as in all tropical climates, loses its fleece before it can be used with advantage. The silk-worm has never succeeded, although no reason can be given why it should not, and therefore the chief material of Javan clothing is cotton.

Cotton, in its rough state, is called kÁpas, and when cleaned kÁpok. The process of separating the seeds is performed by means of a gilÍng'an, which is a roller, consisting of two[Vol I Pg 187] wooden cylinders revolving in opposite directions, between which the fibre is made to pass. This operation is very tedious, two days being necessary for one person to clean a kÁti, equivalent to a pound and a quarter English. After the separation of the seed, it is gÉblek, or beaten with a rattan, and pÍndi or picked. The finer sort is then bowed after the Indian manner; this operation is called wusÓni. The cotton thus prepared is afterwards pulled out and drawn round a stick, when it is called pÚsuh. To perform the process upon a single kÁti will employ one person about two days. The cotton is now ready for spinning ('ngÁnti), and requires ten additional days' labour of one person, to convert the small quantity above mentioned into yarn, when the result is found to be three tukal, or hanks, of the ordinary kind.

Previous to the operation of weaving, the yarn is boiled, and afterwards dressed and combed with rice-water. When dry, it is wound round a sort of reel, termed 'Íngan, and prepared for weaving. These are the last operations it undergoes till it is put into the hands of the weaver, and requires, in ordinary circumstances, three days for its completion. Four days are required even by an expert weaver, and five or six by an ordinary one, to manufacture a sÁrong, or piece of cloth, a fathom and a half long and five spans broad (equal to three square handkerchiefs of the ordinary size worn on the head). The cloths thus prepared, while uncoloured, are distinguished by the term lÁwon.

The spinning-wheel is termed jÁntra, and the spindle kÍsi. The loom, with all its apparatus, is called Ábah Ábah tenÚn, the shuttle trÓpong, the woof mÁni, and the warp pÁkan. Both machines resemble those described on the continent of India, but are neater and much better made: the loom especially is more perfect: the weaver, instead of sitting in holes dug in the ground, invariably sits on a raised flooring, generally in front of the house, her legs being stretched out horizontally under the loom. The price of the spinning-wheel varies from less than half a rupee to a rupee, and that of the loom from a rupee to a Spanish dollar. The operations of spinning and weaving are confined exclusively to the women, who from the highest to the lowest rank, prepare the cloths of their husbands and their families. [Vol I Pg 188]

Coloured cottons (jÁrit) are distinguished into lÚri or lÚri gÍng'gang, those in which the yarn is dyed previously to weaving; and bÁtik, those which are dyed subsequently. The process of weaving the former is similar to that of the gingham, which it resembles, and need not therefore be detailed; but the latter, being peculiar to Java, may deserve a more particular description.

The cloths termed bÁtik are distinguished into bÁtik lÁtur pÚti, bÁtik lÁtur Írang, or bÁtik lÁtur bang, as the ground may be either white, black, or red. The white cloth is first steeped in rice water, in order to prevent the colour with which the patterns are intended to be drawn, from running, and when they are dried and smoothed (calendered), commences the process of the bÁtik, which gives its name. This is performed with hot wax in a liquid state, contained in a small and light vessel, either of copper or silver, called chÁnt-ing,[50] holding about an ounce, and having a small tube of about two inches long, through which the liquid wax runs out in a small stream. This tube, with the vessel to which it is attached, being fixed on a stick about five inches long, is held in the hand, and answers the purpose of a pencil, the different patterns being traced out on both sides of the cloth with the running wax. When the outline of the pattern is thus finished, such parts of the cloth as are intended to be preserved white, or to receive any other colour than the general field or ground, are carefully covered in like manner with the liquid wax, and then the piece is immersed in whatever coloured dye may be intended for the ground of the pattern. To render the colour deeper, cloths are occasionally twice dipped. The parts covered with wax resist the operation of the dye, and when the wax is removed, by being steeped in hot water till it melts, are found to remain in their original condition. If the pattern is only intended to consist of one colour besides white, the operation is here completed; if another colour is to be added, the whole of the first ground, which is not intended to receive an additional shade, is covered with wax, and a similar process is repeated. [Vol I Pg 189]

In order to render the dye fixed and permanent for the scarlet or blood-red colour, the cloth is previously steeped in oil, and after five days washed in hot water, and prepared in the usual way for the bÁtik. In the ordinary course, the process of the bÁtik occupies about ten days for common patterns, and from fifteen to seventeen for the finer and more variegated.

A very coarse kind of cloth, which serves for curtains or hangings, is variously clouded, and covered sometimes with rude figures, by the art of colouring the yarn, so as to produce this effect when woven. For this purpose, the strands of the yarn being distributed in lengths equal to the intended size of the cloth, are folded into a bundle, and the parts intended to remain white are so tightly twisted round and round, that the dye cannot penetrate or affect them. From this party-coloured yarn the designed pattern appears on weaving. The cloths so dyed are called gebÉr.

The sashes of silk, called chÍndi, are dyed in this manner, as well as an imitation of them in cotton, called jÓng'grong.

Of the several kinds of coloured cottons and silks there is a very great diversity of patterns, particularly of the bÁtik, of which not less than a hundred are distinguished by their appropriate names. Among these are the patterns exclusively worn by the sovereign, termed bÁtik pÁrang rÚsa, and bÁtik sÁwat, and others which designate the wearer, and are more or less esteemed, as well on this account as their comparative beauty of design and execution.

With the exception of blue and scarlet or blood-red, all the dyes of the inhabitants are liable to fade, and the processes offer nothing worthy of investigation or remark.

In dying blue, indigo, the palm wine of the Áren, and various vegetable acids are employed.

Black is obtained from an exotic bark called tÍng'i, and the rind of the mangustin fruit. In making the inferior infusion for this and for various other dyes, the chaff of rice, called merÁng, is employed.

In dying green, a light blue is first induced, which is afterwards converted into the requisite hue, by infusion in a decoction of tegrÁng (an exotic wood), to which blue vitriol is added. [Vol I Pg 190]

TegrÁng alone affords a yellow colour, and generally is qualified by receiving the addition of some bark of the nÁngka and plem-dodÓl.

A beautiful and lasting scarlet and blood-red is obtained from the roots of the wÓng-kudu. The yarn or cloth is first boiled in the oil of wijen or kamÍri: being washed in a decoction of merÁng or burnt pÁri chaff, it is dried, and subsequently immersed in an infusion of the roots of wÓng-kudu, the strength of which is increased by the addition of the bark jÍrak, a variety of the fruit kepÚndung. In the preparation of this dye, the roots of the wÓng-kudu are bruised and well mixed with water, which is then boiled until it is reduced to one third, when it is fit for use. No light red or rose colour of durability is produced by the Javans: they employ for this purpose the kasomba kling.

In several of the maritime districts, the MalÁyus impart a beautiful crimson colour to silk, by means of the gÚmlak tembÁlu or embÁlu, but with this Javans are unacquainted.

The kÁpas jÁwa, or Java cotton, in its raw and uncleaned state costs from about three halfpence to three pence the kÁti, according to its quality, and the kÁpas mÚri from six to eight pence. The price of each advances sometimes fifty per cent. beyond this, when the production is scarce or out of season.

A kÁti of uncleaned Java cotton is calculated to produce two and a half tÚkul or hanks of coarse, and three and a half hanks of fine yarn; and a kÁti of kÁpas mÚri, five hanks of the latter. The value of the former is from three to four pence, and of the latter from seven to ten.

Three hanks and a half of coarse yarn, and from five to nine of fine, make one sÁrong, or three head handkerchiefs, the price of which, undyed, is from half a rupee to four Spanish dollars; if dyed, the ging'ams bring from one rupee to four Spanish dollars, and the bÁtik from a rupee and a half to six Spanish dollars for the same quantity.

Another kind of coloured cottons, in imitation of the Indian chintz, is also prepared; but it is not held in much estimation, on account of the superiority of the foreign chintzes imported, and the uncertainty of the colours, which the natives allege will not stand in the same manner as those which have undergone the process of the batÎk, frequently[Vol I Pg 191] fading in the second washing. In these cloths, the patterns being carved on small wooden blocks are stamped as in India. They serve as coverlids, and are employed as a substitute for the Indian palempore, when the latter is not procurable. The price is about four rupees.

The natives of Java, like those of every other country, must have been, from the earliest times, in the habit of manufacturing various articles of leather; but the art of rendering it more compact, more tough, and more durable, by the application of the tanning principle, has been acquired only by their connexion with Europeans. They now practice it with considerable success, and prepare tolerable leather in several districts. There are two trees of which the bark is particularly preferred for tanning; one in the maritime districts, the other in the interior. These, with some others which are occasionally added, contain very large quantities of the tanning principle, which makes excellent leather in a short space of time. Of this native article, boots, shoes, saddles, harness, &c. are made in several parts of the island; but in the greatest perfection at SÚra-kÉrta, where the prices are moderate, and the manufacture extensive and improving. Neither the leather nor the workmanship of these articles is considered much inferior to what is procured at Madras and Bengal. The prices are moderate: for a pair of shoes half a crown, for boots ten shillings, for a saddle from thirty to forty shillings, and for a set of harness for four horses from ten to twelve pounds.

Neither flax nor hemp is cultivated for the purposes of manufacture. The latter is sometimes found in the gardens of the natives of continental India, particularly at Batavia, who employ it only to excite intoxication; but the island affords various productions, the fibrous bark of which is made into thread, ropes, and other similar articles. These are, with one or two exceptions, never cultivated, and when required for use, may be collected in sufficient quantity on spots where they are of spontaneous growth. A particular account of these has already been given in the first chapter, when describing the vegetable productions of the island.

To enable rope or cord which is often exposed to water or moisture, as fishing-nets, cables, and the like, to resist its influence, the sap exuding from various trees is employed. [Vol I Pg 192]

No manufactures are calculated to show more clearly the extent to which the arts of life are carried in a country, than those in which the metals are used. Without the knowledge of iron, our dominion over nature would be very limited; as may be seen in the case of the Americans at the discovery of the western hemisphere. The manufacture and use of iron and steel has been known over the Eastern Islands, as well as in the western world, from time immemorial. The various iron implements of husbandry, the common implements and tools, the instruments and military weapons now in use among the natives of these regions, are fabricated by themselves. The importance and difficulty of the art may be gathered from the distinction which the knowledge and practice of it conferred.

The profession of a smith is still considered honourable among the Javans, and in the early parts of their history, such artizans held a high rank, and were largely endowed with lands. The first mention made of them is during the reign of the chiefs of PajajÁran, in the eleventh century. On the decline of that empire they went over, to the number of eight hundred families, to MajapÁhit, where they were kindly received, and a record is preserved of the names of the head master-smiths. On the destruction of that empire in the fifteenth century, they were dispersed, and settled in different districts of the island, where their descendants are still discoverable. They are distinguished by the term PÁndi.

Iron is cast in small quantities of a few ounces, and used occasionally for the point of the ploughshare. The metal is rendered fluid in about half an hour: charcoal is invariably used, and the operation is termed sing'i or chitak.

The bellows, which is peculiar, and believed to have been in use at the time of PajajÁran and MajapÁhit, and of which a representation sculptured in stone was found in the recently discovered ruins at Suku (which bear date in the fourteenth century of the Javan Æra), appears to be the same as that described by Dampier[51], in his account of MajindÁnao and the neighbouring islands. "Their bellows," says this faithful and intelligent traveller, "are much different from ours. They are made of a wooden cylinder, the trunk of a tree, [Vol I Pg 193]about three feet long, bored hollow like a pump, and set upright on the ground, on which the fire itself is made. Near the lower end there is a small hole in the side of the trunk next the fire, made to receive a pipe, through which the wind is driven by a great bunch of fine feathers fastened to one end of the stick, which closing up the inside of the cylinder, drives the air out of the cylinder through the pipe. Two of these trunks or cylinders are placed so nigh together, that a man standing between them may work them both at once, alternately, one with each hand." This account so exactly corresponds with the Javan bellows, that no further description is necessary. The Chinese bellows are partially used. The wages of a man skilled in iron-work are sometimes as high as a rupee a day.

Cutlery of every description is made by the smith. The most important manufacture of this kind is the krÍs, or dagger, of the peculiar form well known to be worn by all the more civilized inhabitants of the Eastern Islands.

The price of a krÍs blade, newly manufactured, varies from half a rupee to fifty dollars; but the same krÍs, if it is of good character, and if its descent can be traced for three or four generations, is frequently prized at ten times that sum. A pÁndi employed to manufacture a good krÍs blade, if the materials are furnished, is paid three dollars for the job.

The manufacture of sheaths or scabbards (sÁrong) for the krÍs constitute an exclusive profession; and the manufacturers are called tÚkang merÁng'gi, or mergÓngso. These men attend at the public market, where they occupy a particular quarter, in which may be seen people employed in the finishing or repair of every part of the mounting necessary for this instrument; some upon the handle, others upon the sheath; some in applying the paint and lacquer, others attending with a preparation of acids and arsenic for cleaning the blade, and bringing out the appearance of the pÁmur, a white metal obtained from Biliton and Celebes, which is worked up with the iron, in order to produce the damasked appearance of the blade.

Copper is manufactured into the kettles and pots employed by the natives for cooking; most of the other domestic vessels[Vol I Pg 194] are of brass, which is manufactured into various other articles, from the smallest, such as buttons, ear-studs, and other ornaments, in imitation of the gold patterns, to brass guns of considerable calibre, employed for the defence of small vessels. A very extensive foundery of this kind is established at GrÉsik. From the specimen of the casts in brass, copper, &c. which are occasionally dug up near many of the ruinous temples sacred to the ancient worship of the country, we may assert, that great proficiency was once attained in this art: like that, however, of stone-cutting, it has very much declined.

Gold and silver, as is well known, are wrought by the natives of the Eastern Islands into exquisite ornaments; and the Javans are by no means behind their neighbours, the Sumatrans, in the knowledge of this manufacture. They do not, however, usually work the gold into those beautiful filigree patterns, described as common among the MalÁyus on Sumatra, nor is their work generally so fine.

Diamond-cutters, and persons skilled in the knowledge of cutting precious stones, are also to be found in the principal capitals.

Carving in wood is followed as a particular profession, and the Javans may be considered as expert in all kinds of carpenter's work, but more particularly in cabinet-work. They imitate any pattern, and the furniture used by the Europeans in the eastern part of the Island is almost exclusively of their workmanship. Carriages and other vehicles are also manufactured by the natives after the European fashion.

Boat and ship-building is an art in which the Javans are tolerably well versed, particularly the former. The latter is confined principally to those districts in which the Europeans have built ships, for the Javans have seldom attempted the construction of square-rigged vessels on their own account. The best carpenters for ship-building are found in the districts of RembÁng and GrÉsik, but small native vessels and boats are continually constructed by the natives in almost every district along the north coast.

When the quantity of teak timber, and the advantages of Java in respect of ports and harbours, are considered, the most flattering prospects are held out, that this Island[Vol I Pg 195] may, in time, be able to supply shipping to an increasing commerce of its own, and perhaps aid the dock-yards of other states.

Among the articles, the making of which may be interesting to Europeans, from the difference of the materials used or the process employed, is that of paper. The paper in common use with the Javans is prepared from the glÚga (morus papyrifera) which is cultivated for this purpose, and generally called the delÚwang, or paper tree. Having arrived at the age of two or three years, the young trees are cut while the bark easily peels off, and the fragments are portioned about twelve or eighteen inches in length, according to the intended size of the paper. These fragments are first immersed in water about twenty-four hours, in order that the epidermis may be separated; this being effected, the fibrous tissue of the inner bark is rendered soft and tractable by soaking in water, and by long and repeated beating with a piece of wood. During the intervals of this process, the fragments of the bark are piled in heaps in wooden troughs, and the affusion of fresh water is repeated till all impurities are carried off. The separate portions, which are about two or three inches broad, are then attached to each other on a plane surface, generally formed by the trunk of a plantain tree, and the union of the fibres is finally effected by continued beating. The quality of the paper depends upon the care employed in the preparation, and on the frequent affusion of fresh water. By applying successive layers to the spots which are bare from the defect of the fibres, and beating them till they unite, an uniform thickness is attained. The paper which is intended for writing is momentarily immersed in a decoction of rice, and rendered smooth and equal, by being rubbed to a polish on a plane surface. Such paper as is intended for common domestic purposes, for packing goods, &c. does not require this operation: in this the fibrous contexture of the bark is quite obvious; it much resembles a species of paper brought from Japan, and manufactured from the same tree, and was formerly employed instead of cloth by the poorer inhabitants. The process of manufacturing is strikingly like that in use among the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands, for the preparation of their cloth. The culture of this plant, as well as the manu[Vol I Pg 196]facture of paper, is chiefly confined to particular districts, where it forms the principal occupation of the priests, who gain a livelihood by it.

Large quantities of a coarse and homely sugar, distinguished by the name of Javan sugar, are prepared from the cocoa-nut, Áren, and other palms. The average quantity of liquor extracted from one of these trees during a day and night, is about two quarts, and this is estimated to give from three to four ounces of sugar. The trees begin to yield it at about six or seven years of age, and continue to do so for ten or twelve years. The process of preparing the sugar is extremely simple: it consists merely in boiling the liquor in an earthen pot for a few hours, and afterwards pouring it into small cases made of leaves and prepared for the purpose, in which, when cool, it attains a due consistence.

Sugar from the cane is manufactured by the Chinese alone; the process followed resembles that of the West Indies. The juice is expressed between two rollers, sometimes turned by a water-wheel; but in all cases the machinery is rude and imperfect. The quality of the sugar made on Java is considered to be equal to that of Manilla and the West Indies: it contains as much of the saccharine principle as the latter, and is brought to a drier state. It differs from the sugar of Bengal, as much in its quality as in the mode of preparing it, but can be brought to market at about the same price. Considerable quantities are sent to the Malabar coast, but the principal exportation is to Japan and Europe.

The manufactory of Batavian arrack, the superior quality of which is well known, is also conducted by the Chinese: the process is as follows: About seventy pounds of kÉtan (glutinous rice) is heaped up in a small vat; round this heap or pile one hundred cans of water are poured, and on the top twenty cans of molasses. After remaining two days in this vat, the ingredients are shifted to a larger vat adjoining, when they receive the addition of four hundred cans of water and one hundred cans of molasses.

Thus far the process is carried on in the open air. In a separate vat within doors, forty cans of palm wine or toddy from the cocoa-nut tree, are immediately mixed with nine hundred cans of water and one hundred and fifty cans of mo[Vol I Pg 197]lasses. Both preparations being allowed to remain in this state for two days, the former of these preparations is carried to a still larger vat within doors, and the latter being in a vat placed above, is poured upon it, through a hole bored for the purpose near the bottom. In this state the preparation is allowed to ferment for two days, when it is poured into small earthen jars, containing about twenty cans each, in which it remains for the further period of two days: it is then distilled.

The liquor drops into a tin vessel under ground, from whence it is ladled into receiving vessels. This is the third or common sort of arrack, which by a second distillation in a smaller still, with the addition of a small quantity of water, becomes the second sort, and by a third distillation, what is called the first sort. The third or common sort is called by the Chinese sÍchew, the second tÁnpo, and the first kÍji, the two latter being distinguished as arrack Ápi. When cooled, it is poured into large vats in the storehouses, where it remains till it is convenient to put it into casks.

The whole process, therefore, to the completion of the first sort, does not require more than ten days, six hours being sufficient for the original preparation to pass through the first still. The receivers of the stills are of copper, and the worm consists of about nine turns of Banka tin.

The proof of sufficient fermentation is obtained by placing a lighted taper about six inches above the surface of the liquor in the fermenting vat; if the process is sufficiently advanced, the fixed air rises and extinguishes the light.

To ascertain the strength of the spirit, a small quantity of it is burnt in a saucer, and the residuum measured. The difference between the original quantity and the residuum gives the measure of the alcohol lost.

Among the most important manufactures of Java, both viewed in its relation to the comforts of the inhabitants and the interests of the revenue, is that of salt. In almost every country it is an indispensable commodity, but particularly where the people subsist on a vegetable diet, as in India and the Eastern Islands; and wherever government has seen it necessary, it has been converted into a source of taxation.

Nearly the whole of the north-east coast of Java and MÁ[Vol I Pg 198]-dÚra abounds with places well calculated for its manufacture, and unfit for any other useful purpose. The quantity already manufactured has for many years exceeded the demand, both for home consumption and exportation, and might be increased almost ad libitum.

On Java the principal salt-pans are situated at PÁkis, in the vicinity of Batavia; at Bantam, ChÉribon, TÉgal; at WÉdong and BrÁhang, in the SemÁrang districts; at ParadÉsi, in RembÁng; at SedÁyu, GrÉsik, and SimÁmi; on MadÚra, at SÁmpang, PamÁkasan, and SÚmenap. Salt is also manufactured at several places along the south-coast, but of inferior quality, and by a different process. About two hundred tons are annually procured in the interior, from the BlÉdegs, as already described. The principal supply, however, is from the north-coast, where the quality of the salt, and the facility with which it can be manufactured, give it a decided advantage in demand and cheapness.

The process of manufacturing the salt on the north-coast is very simple, and depending on evaporation by the heat of the sun alone, may be favourably contrasted with the comparatively expensive process adopted in the Bengal provinces. Reservoirs are filled from the sea at high tide, and in them the water is allowed to remain for several days; this being found necessary to prevent the salt from being bitter. It is then conveyed by means of canals and sluices to the pans, which are distributed in compartments and banked in, so as to contain the sea-water, much in the same manner as the rice fields. If the weather be dry and the sun clear, five days are found sufficient for the process of evaporation in the pans; after which the salt is collected together in heaps, where it usually remains five days longer before it is brought into store.

Under the Dutch government, the manufacture of salt was fanned out to Chinese as an exclusive privilege; and to these farms, under the plea of enabling the farmer to command a sufficient number of hands for conducting his undertaking, and enabling him to make his advances to government, extensive tracts of rice land were attached, over the population of which the farmer was allowed unlimited authority. By a continued extension of these tracts, a population far more numerous than the work at the salt-pans required was wrested from[Vol I Pg 199] the administration of the regents and transferred to the Chinese: as they found their advantage in renting out the rice-fields, and employing the people in the transport of goods and other laborious offices of the country, the farms of course sold for more money. Under this system, it is difficult to say what was the actual cost of the salt to the farmer: the manufacturers were partly remunerated in land and partly in money, and the mode varied in every district; but this remuneration seldom amounted to more than a bare subsistence.

It was the practice of these farmers-general to underlet to other Chinese the privilege of selling salt, supplying them with the article at a certain rate, and these under-farmers sold the salt again to the petty retailers in the public markets at an advanced price. The price of the salt, after passing through the hands of the farmers, varied not only according to the distance from the place of manufacture, but according to the capital and speculation of the under-farmer; if he adopted the liberal system of obtaining small profits upon a large sale, the market was abundantly supplied at a low rate; but if, on the contrary, he traded on a small capital, and enhanced the price by insufficiently answering the demand, the price became proportionally exorbitant. In some places, as at SalÁtiga and Ung'arang, through which the salt was transported by inland carriage to the populous districts of the interior, the price was sometimes as high as one hundred and twenty, and even one hundred and forty Spanish dollars per kÓyan, while along the coast, as at ChÉribon and SurabÁya, it was as low as thirty, and at GrÉsik twenty-five. The average in the year 1813, when the farming system was abolished, may be taken, one district with another, at about fifty-seven Spanish dollars the kÓgan, or rather less than thirty dollars per ton.

The quantity usually calculated for the annual consumption of Java and MadÚra, including about one thousand kÓyans estimated to be manufactured in the native provinces, is sixteen thousand kÓyans, or thirty-two thousand tons. Under the arrangements now adopted for the manufacture and sale of this article, the average rate at which the manufacturers are paid is about six rupees the kÓyan, including the charges of transport to the depÔts, and the sale price varies from twenty-five to thirty-five Spanish dollars, according to[Vol I Pg 200] the distance from the principal depÔts; an adequate supply by means of smaller depÔts is insured in every part of the country.

The salt of Java exported to the other islands of the Archipelago, competes with that of Siam and the Coromandel coast, and generally supersedes it, both on account of its quality and cheapness. The exportation is free to all places except Bengal, where, on account of its interference with the monopoly there established, it has, since the conquest of Java, been found necessary to prohibit its importation under penalty of confiscation.

The salt of the south coast being manufactured by a process which is much more expensive than that employed on the north, and at the same time being inferior in quality, it is only consumed in places which the latter is prevented from reaching by the difficulty of conveyance or inland tolls and prohibitions; and it has consequently been calculated, that the north coast salt, if allowed to pass toll free through the country, would in a short time supersede that from the south altogether. The inferior quality of the latter is caused by the quantity of the sulphate of magnesia it contains, which renders it by its bitterness unpleasant for culinary purposes.

Of late years, the value of the manufacturing industry of the country may be in some degree be appreciated from the assistance it has afforded to the European government, when, in consequence of the war, the importation of European articles had become insufficient for the public service. Broad cloth not being procurable for the army, a kind of coarse cotton cloth was manufactured by the Javans, with which the whole army was clothed. At SemÁrang were established five of these manufactories, having seventy or eighty looms each. One or two of them made cotton lace, and supplied the army agents with epaulets, shoulder-knots, tassels, &c. There were likewise manufactures of cotton stockings, tape, fringes, cartridge-boxes, sword-belts, saddles, bridles, &c. and in short every thing that could be required for the dress and accoutrements of both cavalry and infantry.

Under European superintendents were established saltpetre works, powder-mills, foundries for shells, shot, anvils, &c. and manufactories of swords and small arms; and when it is[Vol I Pg 201] added, that the French government found means, within the the resources of Java alone, to equip an army of not less than fifteen thousand effective men, besides a numerous militia in every district, and that, with the exception of a few European superintendants in the more scientific works, all the articles were manufactured and supplied by the natives, it is not necessary to adduce any further proof of the manufacturing ability of the country.

Saltpetre is obtained in many parts of the island, and gunpowder has long been manufactured by the native inhabitants. A saltpetre manufactory was established near GrÉsik, under the superintendance of European officers, which it was calculated would furnish annually two thousand pÍkuls of that article to government, at the rate of eight rix-dollars per pÍkul, or one hundred and thirty-three pounds English. The importance of this establishment is manifest in the following observations of Colonel Mackenzie.

"I considered that one day would be usefully employed in viewing the saltpetre works, which a very few years back had been established here, at the risk, and by the zeal and ingenuity of private individuals, with the view of supplying this colony with that necessary ingredient for gunpowder. The best sulphur is supplied from a mountain near the straits of BÁli. For further details of these mines; of the manner in which the nitre is obtained, by an ingenious application of the latest European improvements in chemistry; of the sulphureous crater of the mountain, whence the sulphur, in its utmost purity, is supplied; of the reports of the French engineers, last year, on the improvement of the gunpowder of Java; of the wood selected for the best charcoal, and of the present state of the manufactory and powder-mills at SemÁrang, I must refer, at present, to several papers collected by me on this subject, which may be usefully applicable to our manufactures of gunpowder in India. Passing over these and other considerations, I shall only observe, that of these mines, one of them is cut in caverns into the soft white calcareous rock; and another, more regularly designed, supported by pillars or masses of the native rock, covers regularly formed beds of the native earth, which being impregnated with the native nitre, saturated with the evacuation of[Vol I Pg 202] the numerous bats that haunt these caverns, and mixed with a compound of wood ashes, supplies the liquid that is boiled in large kettles, and afterwards left to cool and crystallize. The whole process is carried on, in a regular manner, under the direction of the first executor of this really grand work, who now resides at SurabÁya[52]."

The labour of felling the teak trees and transporting the timber from the forests, gives employment to a very considerable population, who are distinguished from those employed in other avocations, by the term of blÁndong people, or foresters. The teak timber was formerly delivered to the government as a contingent, by the regents of those districts in which the principal forests were situated, the quantity being regulated according to the supposed extent of the different forests, and the means of cutting and transporting the wood. Previously to the year 1808, the amount of this annual contingent was eight thousand eight hundred beams of different sizes, according to the wants of the public service, of which more than three thousand were delivered from the central forests of RembÁng.

The cutting and dragging of the timber delivered in contingent was performed by the inhabitants of the villages adjacent to the forests, and the buffaloes required were left to be provided by the regents. For this service, in the RembÁng districts, four hundred cutters and labourers, and four hundred and twelve pair of buffaloes, were appropriated for the supply of three thousand one hundred beams annually, a proportion which varied in the other districts, only according to the distance of the forest from the timber yard on the coast, where payment was made for timber on delivery, at the rate of sixteen pence for cutting and conveying a beam of from eighteen to twenty feet long and from nine to ten inches broad, forty-eight stivers for a beam of from thirty-one to thirty-six feet long and from thirteen to fifteen inches broad, and for others in proportion. This was the regular and only payment made for the contingent timber; but when the demands of government exceeded the fixed contingent, which was generally the case, the excess was paid for at an advance of fifty per cent. on these prices. Crooked and other timber for ship-building was paid[Vol I Pg 203] for at about the same rate, but calculated according to a fixed table by the weight.

Under this system, the regents rented out many of the villages adjoining the forests to individuals, and sold, on their own account, such timber as was not of proper quality to be delivered to government. As the demands of government increased, as well as those of the European residents, who were many of them concerned in ship-building and in the sale of timber, the forests near the coast were soon exhausted of their best timber, and as it became necessary for the cutters to go further into the interior, the labour and expense increased, but without any corresponding recompense to them, for the government never raised the price. Individuals, however, did so; and the consequence was, that government finding no regulations they could make for the internal management of the forests sufficient to ensure them an adequate supply, were contented to believe that a greater quantity than was actually furnished could not be cut without injury to the forests; although, at that very time, the deliveries to individuals in the eastern districts were estimated at not less than fifty or sixty thousand beams per annum, the coast was lined with Java-built trading vessels of every description, and these, as well as the rough timber, were frequently sent for sale to a distant market.

In the year 1808, however, in common with all the other departments on the island, this important one was newly organized by Marshal Daendels, who placing the highest value on the forests, and determining to prevent the abuses which had previously existed, removed all the population which had formerly been engaged in the forests in the different parts of the island from the controul of the native regent, as well as the local European authority, and placed them, with the villages and lands to which they were attached, under a separate board or administration for the forest department. This change effectually secured government in the monopoly, and succeeded in the prevention of the abuses which had formerly existed: but in the degree that it had this effect, it also operated to the serious injury of general commerce and the domestic comfort of the inhabitants; for every one was now obliged to buy the timber from government, at a high monopoly rate fixed by general regulation, and the timber could[Vol I Pg 204] only be obtained in comparatively small quantities, seldom of the dimensions required, and only at the fixed staples. Ship-building, and even boat-building, which had before been carried to the greatest extent along the whole coast, was discontinued, and the cottage of the native, which had formerly cost a few rupees, now cost ten times the amount if built of desirable materials.

Under the administration of the Board of Forest, whose residence was fixed at SemÁrang, and who were altogether independent of the local authorities, was now placed a population of nearly one hundred thousand souls, exclusively devoted to the labours of the forests; and as no revenue had been given up by the arrangement, and a small annual delivery of iron, salt, and gunpowder, to the foresters, was the only payment made, considerable profit was expected to result from it to the government. It was found, however, after the establishment of the British government, that the timber which had been cut, and of which there was an immense quantity on hand, was not of a description required for the building of coasting vessels, and could not compete in Bengal with that of Pegu, without such a reduction in the monopoly price, as added to the loss occasioned by so large a proportion of the population, who were set apart for this duty and contributed nothing else to the revenue, the extent of the establishment necessary to enable the government to be the sole timber merchant, and the abuses connected with it, would amount to more than all the profits that had been calculated on. The coasting trade was perishing for want of vessels, and the forest department was a losing concern. Under these circumstances, it was judged expedient to include the population of the BlÁndongs in the general arrangements for the release of the peasantry from feudal bondage, and the establishment of a fixed rent from the land, in lieu of all services and payment formerly rendered.

The people who lived near the forests, and had long been in the habit of cutting and dragging the timber, still however continued in this employment, an annual contract being made with them for their services in the forests, in remuneration for which a remission of rent was granted. The largest and most valuable forests are, under this system, reserved for the exclu[Vol I Pg 205]sive use of government; others of less value, and the limits of which can be easily defined, have, in consideration of a recognition of ten per cent. ad valorem on the timber when worked up, been thrown open to individuals engaged in ship-building, who generally contract with the people of the adjoining villages, to cut and deliver the timber at fixed prices: a mode which has also been occasionally resorted to by government, especially for the inferior and small kinds of timber, shingles, pipe staves, &c. which are allowed to be cut in particular forests.

The industry which has been excited by opening these facilities in procuring timber, and the impetus which it has afforded to trade, may be estimated by this fact, that within the last few years have been launched no less than ten to twelve square-rigged vessels, of from one hundred and fifty to four hundred tons, and that many more of larger dimensions were about to be built, when the restoration of the colony was announced.

It need hardly be observed, that due precautions have been taken for the preservation and renovation of the valuable forests, which so far from being exhausted, are capable of supplying besides crooked and compass timber for ship-building, forty or fifty thousand beams in the year without injury. European overseers are appointed, and one general superintendent is placed over the whole.

As illustrative of the importance attached to these forests by the Dutch, and of the capabilities of the island for ship-building, it may not be uninteresting to annex an extract from Mr. Hogendorp's appeal to the authorities in Holland on this subject.[53] [Vol I Pg 206]

The Blandong people or foresters are generally employed in cutting or in dragging timber during eight months out of the twelve, but they are obliged to watch the forests the whole year through: they are regularly relieved, and half the working men are at all times left disposable for the rice fields. The Blandong people have always been accustomed to the work, and generally have their villages near the principal forests. It is one of the advantages of the system of contracting with the people for land payments, that in emergencies they are willing to lend their own buffaloes to assist those of government in dragging heavy timber, which could not be removed otherwise without great expence, while their children at other times watch and attend the cattle belonging to government. [Vol I Pg 207]In short, the resources of the village are at the disposal of government, for a land payment considerably less than one-third of the expence of hired labourers, whom it would be difficult to procure, and still more difficult, from the character of the people, to retain in constant and unremitting employment.

Under the system of granting remissions of rent, it has been calculated that in the districts of SemÁrang, where the assessment is comparatively high, on account of the vicinity to a large capital, a remission of eight rupees and a half, or about twenty shillings, being the average amount paid annually by each cultivator, government obtains a man's hard labour for six months of the year. But as the inhabitants of the same village are generally accustomed to labour in the fields alternately, and thus to assist each other, it has been found advisable to make the remissions of rent for the Blandongs to the village as a community, in order to avoid the delay and endless vexation which would ensue, in adjusting the petty claims of each individual.

In the maritime districts on the north-east side of the island, a very large proportion of the population is employed in the fisheries, and so moderate are the seasons, that except perhaps for a few days at the change of the monsoon, they are seldom interrupted by the weather.

The sea fish is taken either by the net, in stakes (wÍdi), or with the hook and line: the most considerable quantity is of course procured by means of the two former, generally distinguished by the term mÁyang, whence prÁhu mÁyang, fishing boat. The whole apparatus of the hook and line is called pÁnching, the usual term for angling among the MalÁyus. The fishing-boats quit the shore at about three or four o'clock in the morning, and are driven out by the land breeze beyond sight before daylight. At about noon they are seen returning with the sea-breeze, and generally reach the shore by two in the afternoon. The stakes along the whole of the northern coast, wherever the banks and projecting land admit, are very extensive: they are often fixed in several fathom water, and constitute a very important property. They are usually closed in the night.

Nets are principally made of rÁmi, though sometimes of[Vol I Pg 208] gadÁng'an, and even of cotton. They are steeped in an infusion, which not only darkens their colour, but is considered essentially to contribute to their strength. Fish that is not eaten or disposed of while fresh, is salted and dried in the sun, or smoke-dried at a short distance from a fire, and in that state forms an extensive article of internal commerce. Besides the abundance of fish thus obtained from the sea, extensive tracts of country, salt marshes, and inlets of the sea, have in several parts of the island been converted into fish-ponds (tÁmba). These ponds are to be found in most of the low maritime districts: those at GrÉsik, which are the most extensive, appear to have been first established during the visit of one of the early Mahomedan princes of the island in the fifteenth century. The bÁndeng is generally considered as the richest and highest-flavoured fish known in these seas: the young fry are taken in the sea, and transferred to these ponds, where they grow and fatten for seven months, when they are fit for the table. An annual supply of young fish from the sea is found necessary to keep up the stock in the tanks; and, whether from a desire to raise the value of the fish so obtained in them, or otherwise, the natives generally affirm, that the fish rarely attains its full size in the sea. The extent and value of these nurseries for the fish may be estimated from the rent paid for those at GrÉsik, which are the property of government.

The river fish are taken by a variety of methods: one is to throw a number of branches of trees into a deep part of the river; here the fish collect: they are then surrounded by stakes, or the branches are taken out, and the fish easily caught; this method is termed rÚmpon. BÁmbu fences are sometimes thrown across the rivers at night, and so constructed that the fish are easily entrapped as they pass down the stream: this method is called pÁsang wÁdong. The rivers and ponds are frequently dragged by nets of different sizes. The coculus indicus, and other intoxicating drugs, are sometimes thrown into the river, after which the fish are found floating on the surface and easily taken; this method, termed tÚba, is prohibited on large rivers: when the fish are afterwards driven down the river by a number of men into a snare laid below, the usual term is jÁmprong. In the western dis[Vol I Pg 209]tricts, a fishing party of this description affords a very favourite amusement on great occasions. A time is selected when the river is moderately low; temporary stands made of the trunks of small trees or stout bÁmbus are then thrown across, each consisting of three piles, fastened together at the top and expanding below, the bottoms being pointed so as to fix in the ground. On a small stage on each, just above the surface of the water, are piled a few stones, by which they are steadied while the current is allowed a free course below. The piers or stages thus formed, answer well for the construction of a temporary bridge over the rocky or stony bed of the most irregular river. A coarse matting, made of bÁmbu or some other material, is then carried from one to the other, so as to shut the current in within a narrow space, across which a temporary platform and shed is thrown, with a sloping floor rising above the surface of the water, to where the party is assembled. The drug having been thrown into the river, a considerable distance higher up several hundred people now enter the river, and driving the half-intoxicated fish before them, they come floundering one after the other on the bÁmbu stage, to the no small amusement of the party collected, fish of a considerable size literally jumping into their laps. On these occasions, when the entertainment is given to Europeans, a great concourse of people attend, a feast is prepared, and the wild and antic music and dance of the mountaineers, performing on the Ánklang and rude drum, give great peculiarity and zest to the amusement. Fish are sometimes struck at night by torch light, both at sea and in the rivers; but this method is not very general.

Pearls are obtained in the vicinity of BÁnyuwÁng'i, where the privilege of fishing for them is farmed out by the year, as well as in the vicinity of NÚsakambÁng'an, on the south side of the island; but they are generally of the description called seed pearls, and of little value.

[50] These vessels for large patterns are sometimes made of the cocoa-nut shell, and then hold a proportionally larger quantity.