JAVA. Among the islands of the Indian archipelago Java is not the largest, being surpassed in this regard by Borneo, New Guinea, Sumatra, and Celebes; but in every other respect it is the most important of them all. It has passed through the most remarkable vicissitudes, has been the scene of the most eventful occurrences, and possesses the noblest memorials of bygone splendour. It supports a larger population than all the other islands of the Indian Ocean together, a population as dense indeed as that of the most populous of European countries. In natural beauty it rivals the most favoured regions of the world. Through the mildness of its climate and the industry of its people it possesses a richer store of valuable productions than almost any country of equal extent can boast : its rice-fields make it the granary of the East Indian islands, and its coffee and sugar plantations are a perpetual source of wealth to Holland, the country which has the good fortune to claim its allegiance.1

Java lies between 105º 10' and 114º 34' E. long., and between 5º 52' and 8º 46' S. lat. Its greatest length—-measured from Pepper Bay in the west to Banyuwangi in the east—amounts to no less than 622 miles; its greatest breadth—from Cape Bugel in Japara to the south coast of Jokjokarta—is only 121. The area is estimated at 49,176 square miles, nearly four times that of Holland (12,731 square miles). Both physically and administratively the island of Madura, separated from the main island by a narrow strait, must be taken along with Java; and the same is more or less the case with a number of smaller islands—Pulo Panitan or Princes’ Island, lying off the most western promontory, the Thousaud Islands, the Karimon--Djawa (Carimon Java) archipelago, about 50 miles to the north of Japara, Bawean (Bavean), a little further to the north of Madura, the Sumanap islands to the north-cast of Madura, and Deli, Tindjil, Nusa Kambangan Sempu, and Nusa Barung off the south coast. These all being included, the area of what is officially known as Java and Madura amounts to 51,961 square Miles.2

There is a striking difference between western and eastern Java in the main features of relief. The western portion, exclusive of the northern alluvial coast-land, is a compact mass of mountains culminating in volcanic peaks nowhere interrupted by plains or lowland valleys. In the eastern and larger portion the volcanoes rise in independent clusters, and the valleys between open out into wide champaigns. Even in the east the number of volcanic eminences is exceptionally large; and, if the whole island be taken into view, there is scarcely any region of the world of equal extent which can boast of so many. The following are those which are still in a state of activity:— Gedé (the most western), Tangkuban Prahu, Guntur, Pepandayan, Telaga Bodas, Galung-gung, Tjermé, the Slamat (sometimes called Gedé), Sendårå, Sumbing, Merapi, Lawu, Wilis (?), Kelut, Ardjunå, Kawi (?), Tenger, Smeru or Semeru,. Lamongan, Rawun, and Idjen. The loftiest of them all is Semeru, with a height of 12,238 English feet.3



FOOTNOTES (page 600)

(1) The above general description is taken from the Java of Professor Veth of Leyden, the standard work on the subject.

(2) The orthography of East Indian names is far from constant. Even in the same Dutch book Madura and Madoera, Jokjakarta, Djok-jokarta, and Djokdjokarta are to be found. In the present article the- Dj or J is usually given in the more English form of J, the oe as u, and so on.

(3) See Junghuhn’s Java. Chronological lists of the eruptive and seismical phenomena of the island, and indeed of all the Indian archi-pelago, are given from time to time in the Nat. Tijds. voor Ned. Ind. From Dr Bergsma’s report in the volume for 1880 it appears that in 1878 there were sixteen distinct earthquakes registered throughout the island. That both volcanoes and earthquakes are not without present importance among the physical agencies engaged in the new shaping of the land is shown by such iacts as the following:—in 1843, according to Junghuhn’s estimate, Mount Guntur flung forth ashes and sand to the extent of 30 million tons ; by the great eruption of Mount Galung-gung in 1822, no fewer than 114 villages were laid waste and 4000 persons destroyed ; in 1867 an earthquake caused the death of 1000 people in the town of Joljokarta alone ; in 1872, the eruption of Merapi (one of the most active of the volcanoes) proved fatal to many of the inhabitants of Kadu; and the damage to be feared from the ashes thrown out by the same mountain interferes with the planting of coffee in the districts of Probolingo and Remaneh. In 1879 the Preanger Regencies were visited by several severe shocks, and a number of persons were killed. Besides the volcanoes them-selves, there are a number of striking forms of volcanic activity to be observed in the island, such as the so-called mud-volcano at Grobogan, the gas-fountains or holy-fires of Melati Derat, and the Pakaraman or Guwa Upas (Valley of Poison) in Banyumas on the Dieng mountains. Hot springs are common.



The central ridge, in which, with the single exception of Muriå, all the volcanic peaks are situated, contains a large number of other summits upwards of 6000 feet in height, and several—such as Walleti Pangerangu, Merbabu, Gun-ong Butak, G. Weliran, G. Argowulan, the Yang (Jang) mountains, G. Rante—rise beyond 9000 feet. On both the north and south sides the volcanic chain is flanked by ranges composed of Tertiary rocks; these attain an elevation on the south frequently of between 2000 and 4000 feet, and occasionally in the Preanger Regencies of 5000 or 6000 feet. To the northern flanking range belongs the whole of the island of Madura, which has its highest point in Gunong Tambuko (1541 feet). The northern versant of Java differs from the southern in the great development of its alluvial border, which in one or two places widens out into considerable plains, and from this it naturally results that the streams flowing into the Sea of Java are both in length of course and volume of water more important than those that fall into the Indian Ocean. Their number in both cases is very great ; but none even of the northern streams are navigable for vessels of burden, and only a few for boats beyond the reach of the tide. They are all more or less obstructed by mud or sandbanks at their mouths. In the Sunda lands the river names are usually introduced by Tji, the Sunda word for river; the equiva-lent Kali is prefixed less frequently to the names in the Javanese portions of the island. The largest and in some aspects the most useful of all the rivers is the Bengawan, or river of Solo, so called from Solo, the popular name of the city of Surakarta. It is in the residency of Surakarta that it takes its rise in the plain bounded by Merapi on the W., by Lawn on the E., and by Gunong Kidul. on the S., and it flows through the residencies of Madiun, Rem-bang, and Surabaya. Except for the last three months of the dry season it is navigable for large boats, and during the whole year for small ones. Next in magnitude to the Solo is the Brantas, called in its lower part the Kalimas,-and by Europeans the river of Surabaya, Both rivers debouch into the strait of Madura, and the rapid forma-tion of alluvial deposits in the neighbourhood of their mouths gives abundant proof of their disintegrating agency. In 1818 the largest vessels were able to anchor in the road-stead of Surabaya; by 1825 considerable caution had to be observed; and it speedily became evident that the northern approach would soon be completely closed. Be-tween 1850 and 1854 the lower part of the Solo river was diverted into a new channel, and a permanent fairway seemed to be secured. But the condition of the strait has again been the object of solicitude, and two different schemes have been under consideration for the removal of the lower course of the river still further to the north. All along the north coast of Java similar accretions of land are taking place; and steam dredgers have to be kept at work in all the important harbours.

The endless disturbances produced in the original con-dition of the strata by the continued activity of the volcanic forces render the task of the geologist peculiarly difficult. The volcanic rocks for the most part appear to rest on sedimentary rocks, and these in their turn are pretty certainly supported by granite and syenite. That the sedimentary rocks should all (the modern alluvium of course being excluded) be assigned to the Tertiary period was argued by Junghuhn from the fact that in spite of their difference in composition and character they all contain the same class of fossils ; but a few striking examples of fossils and formations that must belong to the diluvial division of the Quarternary period have been pointed out by Staring and Verbeek. Throughout the rocks remains of vertebrates are exceedingly scarce; but of invertebrates there is a great profusion.1

In keeping with its geological structure, Java appears in general to be in the matter of economic minerals the poorest of the great islands of the archipelago.2 Coal is very common, in thin strata and small "pockets," both in Java itself and in Madura and the lesser islands, but it has hitherto been found impossible to turn it to any consider-able account. A variety of clays fit for bricks, earthen-ware, and porcelain, a peculiar kind of clay (ampo) eaten as a dainty by the natives, good limestone and marble, petroleum, and sulphur have been more or less regularly worked. Salt is obtained from the mud wells of Kuwu and Selo (Samarang), and saltpetre at Sutji in the department of Gresik.

Climate.—Java being situated but a short distance from the equator, with the wide expanse of the Indian Ocean extending to the south, the climate is one of tropical heat and moisture.



At Batavia, the only place where a long series of meteorological observations is available, the greatest maximum temperature of the air between 1866 and 1878 was 96·08 Fahr., in November 1877, and the lowest minimum 66·02, in September of the same year. The mean temperature during the same period was 78·69. Taking the monthly means we find January 77·48, February 77·52, March 78·24, April 79·34, May 79-59, June 78·83, July 78-25, August 79·14, September 79·35, October 79·50, November 79·23, December 77·86. It is this long unbroken continuity of high tem-peratures which proves trying to the European constitution, f or tho new-comer seldom feels himself much oppressed by the heat. The maximum daily temperature occurs in January, June, and July at 2 o’clock and in the other months at 1 o’clock P.M. The highest maximum of barometric pressure recorded between 1866 and 1878 was 30 inches in July.1877, and the lowest minimum 29·64 inches in December 1870. In the ten years 1866·1875 the difference be-tween the highest daily mean and the lowest was only 0·295 of an inch.



Java is situated in the region of the south-east trade wind, and that is the prevailing direction of the wind during one half of the year, from April to October. During the other half of the year a north-west or west wind (the physical continuation of the north-east trade wind) blows with nearly equal steadiness. The former period is known as the dry season or east monsoon, and the latter as the rainy season or the west monsoon. The distinction between the dry and the rainy seasons is most marked in the eastern portion of the island; and indeed when we come as far west as Batavia it cannot be said that there is any part of the year altogether free from rain. During the dry season the well-known phenomenon of land and sea breezes is very distinctly exhibited; during the rainy season, through obvious causes, the alternation becomes much less regular.






FOOTNOTES (page 601)

(1) See Staring, "Stir 1’existence du terrain diluvien á Java," in Archives Néerlandaises, 1867, and "Voorkomen van dill gronden op Java," in Vers. of Kon. Akad. van Wet., Afdeel. Natuurk., 1865; Verbeek, "Geologic van Java" in Tijdsckr. van het Aardk. Genoot., part i.; Lorié, Bijdrage tot de Kennis der Jav. eruptiefgesteenten, Rotterdam, 1879; Martin, Die Tertiärschichten auf Java nach den Entcleckungen von Fr. Junghuhn, Leyden, 1879 ; "Sur les volcans de l’île de Java et leurs rapports avec le reseau pentagonal," in Comples Rendus, tom. lxxix. pp. 1058-1061. There has as yet been no regular geological survey of Java; and much new light may be expected from the labours which the Government has at last deter-mined to prosecute. From Verbeek and Fannema’s "Nouv. faits géol. observés á Java," in Arch. Néerland., 1881, we learn that the existence of granite and other pre-Tertiary rocks, the absence of which has long been regarded as one of the chief points of difference between Java and Sumatra, is now ascertained beyond all dispute.

(2) See Verbeek, De Mijnwetten in Ned. Ind., Batavia, 1879.



In a country of such bold and varied relief as Java, the rainfall naturally differs very strikingly according to locality both in annual amount and in distribution in time. In 1878, for example, the number of rainy days (Natuurk. Tijds. voor Ned. Ind., 1880) was for Batavia (at 23 feet above the sea-level) 131, at Buitenzorg (1069 feet) 220, at Wiradessa in Pekalongan (at the sea-level) 118, and so on. According to the Batavian observations for 1864-1878, the following figures show the annual rainfall:—

TABLE

This gives a mean annual fall of 75·89 inches. During these fifteen years the largest amount registered for any twenty-four hours was 6·9 inches ; and during the thirteen years from 1866 to 1878 the largest amount registered in any single hour was 3·6 inches. More than half of the annual amount of rain on an average falls in the three months December, January, and February. The following figures are the percentages for all the months according to the 1864·1878 observations:—

TABLE

Between 1867 and 1877 1041 thunderstorms were observed at Batavia,—November, December, and January being the months with the greatest number, and June, July, and August those with the least.1

Vegetation.—The vegetation of Java is rich and diver-sified. Few of the plants being deciduous, the island at all times presents the same appearance as the most fertile temperate regions at the height of summer. The villages and even the smaller towns are in great measure concealed from view by the abundant and abiding verdure; and their position in the landscape is to be recognized mainly by the different appearance presented by their groves and orchards. The character of the vegetation as a matter of course varies with the character of the soil; but at once more obvious and more general are the modifications conditioned by in-crease of elevation. Junghuhn divided the island into four botanical zones, and his division has been commonly adopted by his successors. The first or tropical zone extends from the seaboard to a height of 2000 feet ; the second or that of moderate heat has its upper limit at a height of about 4500 feet; the third or comparatively cool region reaches a height of 7500 feet; and the fourth or coldest region comprises all that lies above that elevation. It need hardly be added that the lines of demarcation are far from rigid, and, if they were to follow the actual appearance of certain definite vegetable forms, would dip and rise at every advance. It is at once evident also that from the structure of the island the lowest zone has by far the most extensive area; the second indeed is only a fiftieth of the first, and the third is only a five-thousandth. The lowest zone is the region of the rice-fields and sugar planta-tions, of cocoa-wits, cinnamon, and cotton. According to their character the coasts are fringed with mangroves, nipah, and other palm trees, and the kayu gabas (Alstonia scholaris) ; the ponds and lakelets are covered with Utricu-lariae and lotus flowers; vast prairies are clothed with the silvery alang-alang grass, broken by thickets of bamboo, and patches of the taller eri grass and glagah. The second zone is the region more especially of the coffee and the tea plantations, of the areng or sugar palm, and of maize. In the forests there is a great profusion of woody lianas, rotangs, and cissus varieties. In the third zone, which consists mainly of the slopes of volcanic mountains, but also comprises a few plateaus, there is little cultivation except in the Tenger mountains, where the natives raise Indian corn, cabbage, and potatoes, and at Simpungan



(the highest village in Java, 6680 feet) on the Dieng plateau, where even tobacco is most successfully culti-vated. The fourth zone, so far as phanerogamous plants are concerned, has a very restricted vegetation,. somewhere about one hundred species being known; but there is a corresponding abundance of cryptogams: fungi are com-mon, and mosses cover the ground and invest the trees. The whole flora of this upper region bears a strong European cast.

According to a writer in the Tijdschrift van Nijverheid en Landbouw, 1879, not less than one-fourth to one-fifth of the area of Java is still covered with forest, in spite of the fact that in various quarters reckless destruction has been allowed to go on. The abundant moisture of the vegetation happily prevents the spread of the fires by which the natives often clear the prairies or jungles. Extensive tracts of virgin forest exist, more particularly in the south of the residencies of Bantam, the Preanger Regencies, Banyumas, Pasuruan, Kediri, Probolingo, Besuki, and Banyuwangi ; and many of the principal mountains—G. Ayang, G. Tjermé, G. Slamat, G. Wilis, G. Ardjunå,, G. Raon, &c.—still preserve their natural covenng of luxuriant foliage. In the first zone the forests are largely composed of Magnoliaceae and Anonaceae ; but the loftiest trees are rather the Mimusops acuminata, the Spathodea gigantea, and the Irina glabra, which reach a height of 120 feet. In the second zone the first rank must be given to the rasamala (Liquidambar Altingia), the trunks of which run straight up for 90 or 100 feet before they break into branches. The tree, however, is only found in the Preanger Regencies andtbe contiguous portions of Buitenzorg. Among the other trees more generally characteristic of the zone are the puspa (Schima Noronhae), yielding fine, red, heavy timber, the ki sapi (Gordonia excelsa), the gadok (Bischofia javanica), the bayur (Pterospermum Blumeanum), and Epicharis densiflora. Throughout the greater part of both the lower regions the banyan-tree and several closely allied forms are extremely common.

Hitherto comparatively little advantage has been taken of the Javanese wealth of timber. If the native states and Madura be left oat of account, all the woods and forest, with the exception of such portions as have been formally disposed of to private possessors, are considered as Government property, and are managed under a new system introduced in 1874. By this the teak forests or planta-tions are singled out for particular treatment. They exist in the resi-dencies of Tagal, Samarang, Japara, Surabaya, Madiun, Kediri, and are estimated to occupy 2300 square miles. The seaports where the timber trade is chiefly carried on are Batavia, Samarang, Surabaya, and Gresik. The net profit realized by the Government from the forest department was only £58,000 in 1879.

Reforesting has been commenced in various places—more parti-cularly on the Sumbing, Sendårå, Merbabu, and Unarang. The Eucalyptus globulus, the juar (Cassia florida, Vahl), a rapidly growing tree indigenous to Sumatra, and the surian (Cedrela febri-fuga, Bl.), are being largely employed by the Government for this purpose.





Zoology.—In respect of its fauna, Java differs from Borneo, Sumatra, and the Malay peninsula far more than these differ among themselves; and at the same time it shows close regemblances—not exhibited by Borneo and Sumatra—to the Siamese peninsula and also to the Hima-layas. No genus and only five or six of the ninety species of Javanese mammals are confined to the island; and of the two hundred and seventy species of land birds only forty are peculiar. Thirteen genera of mammals, includ-ing the elephant, the tapir, and the Malay bear, found in the rest of the Malay region, are altogether absent; and twenty-five Malayan genera of birds—comprising jays, gapers, bee-eaters, woodpeckers, hornbills, cuckoos, pheasants, and partridges—are in like case.2



The Javanese rhinoceros, the largest of the mammals in the island, differs from that of Sumatra in having only one horn instead of two. It ranges over the highest mountains, and its regular paths—-worn into deep channels—may be traced up the steepest slopes and round the rims of even active volcanoes. Of wild swine there are two species, Sus vittatus in the hot region and Sus verrucosus in the temperate. Both are extremely abundant, and their depreda-tions are the cause of much loss; in the residency of Japara, for instance, upwards of five thousand have been killed in two months. Not much less than the rhinoceros is the banting or Bos sundaicus, to be found in all the uninhabited districts between 2000 and 7000 feet on elevation. The kidang or mintjac (Cervulus muntjac) and the rasa (Rusa kippelaphus) are the chief representatives of the deer



FOOTNOTES (page 602)

(1) See Observations made at the Magnetical and Meteorological Observatory at Batavia (vol. i., 1871; vol. iv., 1879).

(2) See A. R. Wallace, Island Life, 1881.



kind ; the. former is a delicate little creature occurring singly or in pairs both in the mountains and in the coast districts; the latter, living in herds of from fifty to one hundred in the grassy "opens," gives excellent sport to the native hunters. The kantjil (Tragulus javanicus) is little bigger than a hare. The royal tiger—the same species as that of India—is still frequent enough in the forests to make a tiger-hunt a characteristic Javanese scene, and to permit the native princes to exhibit at times a tiger and buffalo fight.1 The leopard is also common: in the warm region specimens are occasion-ally found in which the coat is almost uniformly black, the spots, however, being visible on inspection. In the tree tops, the birds find a treacherous enemy in the matjan rempak or wild cat (Felis minuta or Leopardus javanensis), about the size of a common cat, with the markings of its larger namesake. The dog-tribe is repre-sented by the fox-like adjag (Canis rutilans), which hunts in fero-cious packs.

The Cheiroptera hold a prominent place in the fauna. Remarkable especially for size is the kalong or flying-fox (Pteropus edulis), a fruit-eating bat, which may be seen hanging during the day in black clusters asleep on the trees, and in the evening hastening in dark flocks to its favourite feeding grounds in the forest. The damage these do to the young cocoa-nut trees, the maize, and the sugar-palm leads the native to snare and shoot them ; and their flesh is good to eat, Smaller kinds of bats are Dot less abundant,—perhaps the most common species being the Nycticejus Temminckii. In certain places they congregate in myriads like seafowl on the cliffs, and their excrements produce extensive guano deposits, which the natives of Surakarta and Madiun, for example, utilize as sources of saltpetre. The house of Canneman, near Besuki, is the chosen haunt of a monstrous colony which have successfully defied all efforts made to expel them. The creature known to the Europeans as a flying cat, and to the natives as the kubin, is the Galeopithecus variegatus, marking a sort of transition from the bats to the lemuroids. Of these last Java has several species, held in awe by the natives for their supposed power of fascination, The apes are represented by the wou-wou (Hylobates leuciscus), the lutung, and kowi (Presbytes maurus and pyrrhus), the surili (Presbytes mitratus), and, most general of all, Macacus cynomolgus. The existence of bands of the wou-wous is only too distinctly proved in the second zone by the loud and cacophonous outcry from which their name is derived. The lutung or black ape prefers the temperate region, though it is met with as high as 7000 feet above the sea and as low as 2000. The Macacus keeps for the most part to the warm coast regions. Rats, mice, porcupines, a particular kind of hare (Lepus nigricollis—confined to a very limited habitat), squirrels, flying squirrels, are the Javanese representatives of the Rodentia; and the Insectivora comprise a shrew mouse, three species of Cladobates, and Hylomys suillus, peculiar to Java and Sumatra.





Agriculture.—In the eyes of a Javanese to lack rice is to lack food. About the introduction of this divine cereal he tells strange legends, considering it the offspring of the body of Dewie Srie. The priesthood of this goddess is more influential often than that of the Prophet; at an autumn festival the worshippers may be heard uttering the Mahometan Bismillah, and following it up with the seven-fold repetition of her name. For a full harvest the choice of a lucky day is of greater importance than the careful tillage of the field; and to ensure a proper selection the Javanese. must have the "windu," the year, the month, the day, the hour. In each of the eight years of the windu a special method of ploughing, of sacrificing, praying, &c., must be employed.2 The Javanese is thus far from being an enlightened cultivator even of his one indispensable grain; and, though the ancestral custom must in many cases be really the result of ancient experience, the blindfold way in which it is applied results in very bad husbandry. The cultivation of the rice appears at present to be often carried on at a dead loss. The varieties of the cereal known to the Javanese are numerous; but they are commonly grouped as Oryza sativa, praecox, montana, and glutinosa. The first is the kind mainly sown in the sawahs or irrigation-fields; the montana, on the other hand, is suited for those in which there is no artificial irrigation,—either gogo-land, which has been only rudely cleared from the forest and brought under imperfect or temporary tillage, or the tagal, which is regularly subject year after year to the processes of husbandry.



Some idea may be formed of the extent of agricultural activity in Java from the following statement of the amount of land (in bouws,—the bouw or bahu. being about 1 3/4 acres) cultivated for their own use by the natives of Java and Madura, excluding the native states and the private properties:—

TABLE

In 1879, leaving out of view the native territories and the private estates, the area under cultivation was 2,929,644 bouws. Of this aggregate, 1,504,052 bouws were sawabs capable of irrigation, 813,153 sawahs dependent on the rains, 49,219 marsh-sawahs, and 563,220 tagal fields. The system of communal proprietorship and annual redivision of the soil largely holds throughout Java, especially in the case of the irrigated lands ; in a large number of instances it has taken the place of individual ownership within quite recent years, and in other instances the opposite process has been carried through. There are villages where the redistribution is repeated regularly every year, others where this is only done as often as the number of legitimate share-takers is increased or diminished. In some to prevent the excessive parcelling of the land a certain quota of the claimants are kept in abeyance at each term of allotment. To the reclaimer of virgin land belongs the ownership of the same. Details will be found in the official Eindresume van het onderzoek naar de rechten van den inlander op den grond, of which an epitome appears in De Indische Gids, 1880.

Besides rice the Javanese cultivate for their own use, on a smaller scale, maize (jogung), ground nuts, yams, Colocasia antiquorum, Coleus tuberonw, and cassava. The gardens and orchards in which their huts are embowered contain a great variety of fruits. The cocoa-nut holds an increasingly important place,—the best of the many varieties being the idjo; and the banana is even more common. For an account of these as well as other fruits cultivated in the native orchards (Artocarpus integrifolia, &c.) see a paper by Gelpke in De Indischo Gids, 1880.

.The Javanese possess buffaloes, ordinary cattle, horses, dogs, and cats. Attempts made by the Government to introduce the ass (1841) and the camel (1843-45) were not successful. The buffalo was probably introduced by the Hindus. The ordinary cattle are of very mixed race ; the Indian zebu having been crossed with the banting and with European cattle of miscellaneous origin. The horses, though small, are of excellent character, and their masters, according to their own ideas, are extremely particular in regard to purity of race. Riding comes very naturally to the Javanese; horse-races and tournays have been in vogue amongst them from early times. The native sheep are of no value for their wool, and the finest merinos, introduced by Holle in 1872, soon degenerated to the same condition.3 Bees (apparently the small stingless Melipona minuta) are kept by the natives of the Preanger. The attempt to introduce the European varieties made in 1877-8 has proved very much of a failure. See Buitenzorg Report, 1879.



The production of rice is not of more importance to the native Javanese than the cultivation of the coffee-plant is to their European masters. The first coffee-plants; grown in Java of which we have historical accounts were brought from Kananore on the coast of Malabar in 1696 ; but they perished in the earthquake and flood of 1699, and the honour of reintroducing the precious shrub belongs to Hendrik Zwaardekroon.4 The first shipment of Javanese



FOOTNOTES (pages 603)

(1) See, in Beauvoir’s Voyage Round the World, a description of the menagerie of the prince of Jokjokarta.

(2) In the first year, for example, of the windu, Alip, the work is begun on Friday, and the first furrow is drawn from south to north in the middle of the field. The sacrificial feast consists mainly of rice not cooked in steam (Sega liwet). For details as to rice culture, its super-stitions, &c., see Bijdr. tot de T. L. en V, Kunde van Ned. Ind., 1874.

(3) The number of buffaloes in Java (exclusive of Batavia, Surakarta, and Jokjokarta) in 1837 was 1,046,844 ; of cattle, 340,125 ; and of horses, 221,150. By 1876 the corresponding numbers were 2,235,613 buffaloes, 1,290,649 cattle, 532,612 horses. Since 1873 there are statistics for the whole island: in 1877 the buffaloes numbered 2,754,498; the cattle, 1,727,841; and the horses, 618,411. The cattle plague made its appearance in the island in 1879. See Kesteren, "De Veestapel of Java," in De Indische Gids, 1880.

(4) See N. P. van den Berg, "Voortbrenging ent Verbruik van Koffie" (Tijdsch. voor Nijver. en Landb., 1879). Widji Kawah is mentioned in a Kawi inscription of 856, and "Bean-soup" is included in the list of Javanese beverages by David Tappen (1667-1682).



coffee to the Netherlands was made in 1711-12; but it was not till after 1721 that the yearly exports reached any considerable amount. The aggregate quantity sold in the home market from 1711 to 1791 was 2,036,437 piculs (of 133 lb avoird.), and this must have represented nearly the whole production of the island. By the beginning of the 19th century the annual production was 120,000 piculs I and in spite of political interruptions this had increased by 1825 to 268,000 piculs. After the introduction of the Van den Bosch system a further augmentation was effected; and from the official reports it appears that from 1840 to 1873 the amount has ranged from 769,000 to 1,234,000 piculs. During the ten years 1869-1878 the average annual produce of the Government plantations was 878,000, that of the private planters 156,000 piculs. In 1878 the actual quantity of Government coffee was 831,515 picills, and it was estimated that the total number of full grown plants in the island was 14,180,000. The collecting ware-houses were 367.

Next in importance to the coffee plant is the sugar cane. Between 1853 and 1857 the average production of Java was 1,652,112 piculs ; between 1869 and 1873, 2,809,968; and between 1875 and 1880, 3,438,912 ; the corresponding numbers for Brazil being 1,683,200, 2,176,000 and 2,110,256. The largest harvest in any single year in Java during all that period was that of 1877, 3,721,984 piculs. The cultivation of tea, commenced by Du Bus, has also attained a considerable development; in 1879 the production amounted to upwards of 5,700,000 1b. The plantations are private enterprises on lands leased or granted as freehold by the Government. Most of them are in Batavia (Depart. Buitenzorg) and the Preanger Regen-cies. Cinchona is largely grown by the Government, and to some extent by the private planters. In 1879 the Government had 1,678,670 trees; the production was about 115,000 1b. Ten dis-tinct varieties are in cultivation, Succiruba and Calisaya javanica preponderating. The tobacco plant is grown in nearly all the residencies, but most extensively in Kediri and Besuki. The produc-tion for the foreign market amounted in 1879 to 7,050,000 lb.1

The cultivation of the great wealth-giving crops of Java has long been carried on in the interest of the Government, the native peasantry being obliged to devote so much of their soil and toil to satisfy the demands of their European masters. The system by which, in this regard, the relations of the Government to the native were for a long time determined is generally known as the "culture system." Introduced in 1830 by Vau den Bosch, it continued in force till 1873, and has not altogether disappeared even yet. As far back as 1856 modifications of its arrangements were introduced by Duijmaer van Twist; and the position of the native was further improved by Sloet van de Beele. The reforms were for a time retarded -by Governor Mijer ; but in 1870, under the colonial minister Waal, a new agrarian law was passed which permitted the cession of uncultivated ground to Europeans on a lease of seventy-five years. The principal object of the "culture system" was the coffee plant, and it is only gradually that the restrictions of the older regulation have been relaxed. In 1872 a new regulation was introduced into the Preanger Regencies ; in 1875 it was extended to the rest of the island with the exception of Pasuruan and the Tenger mountains ; and in 1877 it was made applicable in Pasuruan likewise. By this new system the large plantations at a distance from the abodes of the "culture" peasants are to be replaced by smaller planta-tions near the villages; no service is demanded from those whose lands and gardens are below a definite minimum, and the people cannot be called out for field work en masse; fifty coffee plants is the greatest number that any one can be called on to plant in a year. The general scope of the newer legislation is to leave as much as possible to private initiative, native and European, but it will be a long time before the loading strings can be altogether dropped. In the words of Mr Kesteren:—

"The Javanese knows no freedom. His whole existence is ‘regulationed.’ If he is bound to render ‘culture’—service, the administration shows him to what department to apply himself, when and how he must plant. If he is not bound to render ‘culture’—service, but, has the position of a so-called free agriculturist, the administration prescribes the time and method of sowing and planting his land. If he wishes to fix his habitation outside his village, the village chief may prevent him. If he has a dwelling of his own, the administration decides for him what sort of materials he must use for the roof. If he has a hanging night lamp in his bamboo hut, he must not hang it against the wall."

It is not in the coffee plantations only that his service is demanded by the Government. In 1879 there were 2,030,136 persons subject to the corvée ; and the actual days of work required were 32,197,561, the greatest number of days which can be exacted from any individual being 52 per annum. To watch the Government warehouses, to escort prisoners, to keep the roads and bridges in repair, to give assistance to persons travelling in the public service, are some of the many tasks which the native is called on to perform.