_Importance of Agriculture to Java--Soil--State
of the Peasantry--Price of Rice--Subsistence
of the Peasantry--Dwelling--Agricultural
Stock--Implements of Farming--Seasons--Different
Kinds of Land--Rice Cultivation--Maize,
&c.--Sugar--Coffee--Pepper--Indigo--Cotton--Tobacco--Tenure of
Landed Property._
The island of Java is a great agricultural country; its soil is
the grand source of its wealth. In its cultivation the inhabitants
exert their chief industry, and upon its produce they rely, not only
for their subsistence, but the few articles of foreign luxury or
convenience which they purchase. The Javans are a nation of husbandmen,
and exhibit that simple structure of society incident to such a stage
of its progress. To the crop the mechanic looks immediately for his
wages, the soldier for his pay, the magistrate for his salary, the
priest for his stipend (or _jákat_), and the government for its
tribute. The wealth of a province or village is measured by the extent
and fertility of its land, its facilities for rice irrigation, and the
number of its buffaloes.
When government wishes to raise supplies from particular districts, it
does not enquire how many rupees or dollars it can yield in taxes, but
what contribution of rice or maize it can furnish, and the impost is
assessed accordingly: the officer of revenue becomes a surveyor of land
or a measurer of produce, and the fruits of the harvest are brought
immediately into the ways and means of the treasury. When a chief gives
his assistance in the police or the magistracy, he is paid by so much
village land, or the rent of so much land realized in produce; and a
native prince has no other means of pensioning a favourite or rewarding
a useful servant. "Be it known to the high officers of my palace,
to my _Bopátis_ (regents), and to my _Mántris (petite noblesse)_,"
says a Javan patent of nobility granted by Sultan _Hamángku Búana_,
"that I have given this letter to my servant to raise him from the
earth, bestowing upon him, for his subsistence, lands to the amount of
eleven hundred _cháchas_, the labour of eleven hundred men." By the
population returns, and by the number of leases granted under the late
settlement, it appears, that sometimes there is not more than a tenth
part of the inhabitants employed in any other branch of industry. Out
of a population of 243,268 in the _Priáng'en_ regencies, 209,125 are
stated as employed in agriculture. In _Surabáya_, the proportion of
householders who are cultivators, is to the rest of the inhabitants as
32,618 to 634; in _Semárang_, as 58,206 to 21,404; in _Rembang_ it is
as 103,230 to 55,300; and in other districts there are considerable
variations: but it rarely happens, that the people employed in trade,
in manufactures, in handicrafts, or other avocations, amount to a half
of those engaged in agriculture, or a third of the whole population.
The proportion, on an average, may be stated as three and a half or
four to one. In England, it is well known, the ratio is reversed, its
agricultural population being to its general population as one to
three or two and a half. By the surveys lately made under the orders
of the British government, we are enabled to describe the processes
of Javan agriculture, and to state its results with more accuracy and
in greater detail, than can be attained on many subjects of superior
public interest. If we avail ourselves of these means pretty largely,
it is not so much in the hope of increasing the stock of agricultural
knowledge, as of assisting the reader to form an estimate of the
character, habits, wants, and resources of the Javan.
The soil of Java, though in many parts much neglected, is remarkable
for the abundance and variety of its productions. With very little
care or exertion on the part of the cultivator, it yields all that
the wants of the island demand, and is capable of supplying resources
far above any thing that the indolence or ignorance of the people,
either oppressed under the despotism of their own sovereigns, or
harassed by the rapacity of strangers, have yet permitted them to
enjoy. Lying under a tropical sun, it produces, as before observed,
all the fruits of a tropical climate; while, in many districts, its
mountains and eminences make up for the difference of latitude, and
give it, though only a few degrees from the line, all the advantages
of temperate regions. The _bámbu_, the cocoa-nut tree, the sugar-cane,
the cotton tree, and the coffee plant, here flourish in the greatest
luxuriance, and yield products of the best quality. Rice, the great
staple of subsistence, covers the slopes of mountains and the low
fields, and gives a return of thirty, forty, or fifty fold; while
maize, or even wheat and rye, and the other plants of Europe, may be
cultivated to advantage on high and inland situations. Such is the
fertility of the soil, that in some places after yielding two, and
sometimes three crops in the year, it is not necessary even to change
the culture. Water, which is so much wanted, and which is seldom found
in requisite abundance in tropical regions, here flows in the greatest
plenty. The cultivator who has prepared his _sáwah_, or rice field,
within its reach, diverts part of it from its channel, spreads it out
into numerous canals of irrigation, and thus procures from it, under
a scorching sun, the verdure of the rainy season, and in due time a
plentiful harvest. Nothing can be conceived more beautiful to the
eye, or more gratifying to the imagination, than the prospect of the
rich variety of hill and dale, of rich plantations and fruit trees or
forests, of natural streams and artificial currents, which presents
itself to the eye in several of the eastern and middle provinces, at
some distance from the coast. In some parts of _Kedú_, _Banyumás_,
_Semárang_, _Pasúruan_, and _Málang_, it is difficult to say whether
the admirer of landscape, or the cultivator of the ground, will be most
gratified by the view. The whole country, as seen from mountains of
considerable elevation, appears a rich, diversified, and well watered
garden, animated with villages, interspersed with the most luxuriant
fields, and covered with the freshest verdure.
Over far the greater part, seven-eighths of the island, the soil is
either entirely neglected or badly cultivated, and the population
scanty. It is by the produce of the remaining eighth that the whole
of the nation is supported; and it is probable that, if it were all
under cultivation, no area of land of the same extent, in any other
quarter of the globe, could exceed it, either in quantity, variety, or
value of its vegetable productions. The kind of husbandry in different
districts (as shall be mentioned afterwards more particularly) depends
upon the nature and elevation of the ground, and the facilities for
natural or artificial irrigation. The best lands are those situated in
the vallies of the higher districts, or on the slopes of mountains,
and on the plains stretching from them, as such lands are continually
enriched with accessions of new earth washed down from the hills by
the periodical rains. The poorest soil is that found on the ranges
of low hills, termed _kéndang_, extending along many districts, and
particularly in the southern division of the island; but in no part is
it so sterile or ungrateful, as not to afford a liberal return for the
labour bestowed upon its cultivation, especially if a supply of water
can be by any means directed upon it.
But when nature does much for a country, its inhabitants are sometimes
contented to do little, and, satisfied with its common gifts, neglect
to improve them into the means of dignity or comfort. The peasantry
of Java, easily procuring the necessaries of life, seldom aim at
improvement of their condition. Rice is the principal food of all
classes of the people, and the great staple of their agriculture.
Of this necessary article, it is calculated that a labourer can, in
ordinary circumstances, earn from four to five _kátis_ a day; and a
_káti_ being equivalent to one pound and a quarter avoirdupois, is
reckoned a sufficient allowance for the daily subsistence of an adult
in these regions. The labour of the women on Java is estimated almost
as highly as that of the men, and thus a married couple can maintain
eight or ten persons; and as a family seldom exceeds half that number,
they have commonly half of their earnings applicable for the purchase
of little comforts, for implements of agriculture, for clothing and
lodging. The two last articles cannot be expensive in a country where
the children generally go naked, and where the simplest structure
possible is sufficient to afford the requisite protection against the
elements.
The price of rice, which thus becomes of importance to the labourer,
varies in different parts of the island, according to the fertility
of the district where it is produced, its situation with regard to a
market, or its distance from one of the numerous provincial capitals.
As the means of transport, by which the abundance of one district
might be conveyed to supply the deficiencies of another, and to
equalize the distribution of the general stock, are few and laborious,
this variation of price is sometimes very considerable: even in the
same district there are great variations, according to the nature
of the crop. In the Native Provinces, a _píkul_ (weighing 133⅓ lbs.
English) sometimes sells below the fourth part of a Spanish dollar, and
at other times for more than two Spanish dollars; but in common years,
and at an average over the whole island, including the capital, the
estimate may be taken at thirty Spanish dollars the _kóyan_ of thirty
_píkuls_, or three thousand _kútis_. A _kúti_ of rice, according to
this estimate, may be sold to the consumer, after allowing a sufficient
profit to the retail merchant, for much less than a penny.
But though the price of this common article of subsistence may be of
some consequence to the Javan labourer, when he wants to make any
purchase with his surplus portion, he is rendered independent of the
fluctuations of the market for his necessary food, by the mode in
which he procures it. He is generally the cultivator of the soil; and
while he admits that law of custom, which assigns to the superior a
certain share of the produce, he claims an equal right himself to the
remainder, which is generally sufficient to support himself and his
family: and he sometimes finds in this law of custom, sanctioned by the
interest of both parties, a security in the possession of his lands,
and a barrier against the arbitrary exactions of his chief, which could
scarcely be expected under the capricious despotism of a Mahomedan
government. In addition to this reserved share, he raises on his own
account, if he is industrious, within what may be termed the cottage
farm, all the vegetables, fruit, and poultry requisite for his own
consumption. His wife invariably manufactures the slight articles of
clothing, which, in such a climate, the common people are in the habit
of wearing. What can be spared of the fruits of their joint industry
from the supply of their immediate wants, is carried to market, and
exchanged for a little salt fish, dried meat, or for other trifling
comforts, hoarded as a store for the purchase of an ox or a buffalo, or
expended in procuring materials for repairing the hut and mending the
implements of husbandry.
The farming stock of the cultivator is as limited as his wants are
few and his cottage inartificial: it usually consists of a pair of
buffaloes or oxen, and a few rude implements of husbandry. There is
a small proportion of sheep and goats on the island; but, with the
exception of poultry, no kind of live stock is reared exclusively
either for the butcher or the dairy. By the returns made in 1813 of
the stock and cattle of the provinces under the British government,
containing a population of nearly two millions and a half, it was found
that there were only about five thousand sheep and twenty-four thousand
goats. The number of buffaloes, by the same return, and in the same
space, was stated at 402,054, and of oxen at 122,691. Horses abound in
the island, but are principally employed about the capitals, and not in
husbandry, further than in the transport of produce from one district
to another.
The buffalo and ox are used for ploughing. The former is of a smaller
size than the buffalo of Sumatra and the Peninsula, though larger than
that of Bengal and of the islands lying eastward of Java. It is a
strong tractable animal, capable of long and continued exertion, but it
cannot bear the heat of the mid-day sun. It is shy of Europeans, but
submits to be managed by the smallest child of the family in which it
is domesticated. The buffalo is either black or white: the former is
larger and generally considered superior. In the _Súnda_, or western
and mountainous districts, nine out of ten are white, which is not at
all the case in the low countries; no essential difference in the breed
has been discovered to be connected with this remarkable distinction of
colour. The usual price of a buffalo in the western districts is about
twenty-four rupees for the black, and twenty rupees for the white; in
the eastern districts the price varies from twelve to sixteen rupees.
The _Súnda_ term for a buffalo is _múnding_; the Javan, _máisa_ and
_kébo_: and in compliment to _Laléan_, the prince who is supposed to
have introduced cultivation into the _Súnda_ districts, that prince
and his successors on the _Súnda_ throne are distinguished by the
appellation _Múnding_ or _Máisa_. The name of the individual sovereigns
enters into a compound with these general terms for the dynasty, and
they are called _Máisa-laléan_, _Múnding-sári_, and so of others.
The ox of Java derives its origin from the Indian breed. Two varieties
are common: that which is called the Javan ox has considerably
degenerated; the other, which is termed the Bengal or Surat ox, is
distinguished by a lump on the shoulder, and retains in his superior
strength other traces of his origin. The bull after castration is used
as a beast of burden, for the draught, and sometimes for the stall.
Cows are chiefly employed in husbandry, and are particularly useful
to the poorer class; but in the _sáwah_ and the extensive inundated
plantations of the low districts of the island, the superior bulk and
strength of the buffalo is indispensable. Eastward of _Pasúruan_,
however, the lands are ploughed by oxen and cows exclusively. The
wild breed, termed _bánténg_, is found principally in the forests of
that quarter and in _Báli_, although it occurs also in other parts; a
remarkable change takes place in the appearance of this animal after
castration, the colour in a few months invariably becoming red.
The cows on Java, as well as throughout the Archipelago, remarkably
degenerate from those properties, for which, in a state of
domestication, they are chiefly prized in other quarters of the world,
and afford little or no milk beyond what is barely sufficient for the
nourishment of the calf: but the draught ox does not partake of a
similar change, and in the central and eastern districts, particularly
where the pasture is good, becomes a strong active animal. The
degenerate domestic cows are sometimes driven into the forests, to
couple with the wild _bánténg_, for the sake of improving the breed.
A single pair of oxen, or buffaloes, is found sufficient for the yoke
both of the plough and harrow; and these form by far the most expensive
part of the cultivator's stock. The price of a draught ox, in the
central and eastern districts, in which they are more generally used
in agriculture, varies from eight to sixteen rupees, or from twenty to
forty shillings English, and a cow may be purchased for about the same
price. Either from the luxuriance of the pasture, the greater care of
the husbandmen, or a more equal climate, both the buffalo and the ox
are usually in better condition on Java than in many parts of India:
indeed, those miserable half-starved looking animals, with which some
of the provinces of Bengal abound, are never seen in this island,
except, perhaps, occasionally, in some of the few herds belonging to
Europeans, in the vicinity of Batavia.
Buffaloes, however, more than other domestic animals, are subject to
an epidemic disease, the symptoms and nature of which have not been
hitherto carefully noted, or satisfactorily explained. It prevails
throughout the whole island, and generally re-appears after an interval
of three, four, or five years: it makes great ravages in the stock of
the peasantry, and is checked in its progress by no remedies which have
hitherto been discovered or applied: it is of an infectious nature,
and excites great alarm when it appears: it bears different names in
different parts of the island. As the bull and cow are not liable to
this disease; and as, in addition to this advantage, they are less
expensive in their original purchase, they are preferred by many of the
natives.
For draught, the buffalo and cow are employed; and for burden, the
horse (particularly mares) and the ox. In level districts, and in good
roads, the use of the latter is preferred. The usual burden of a horse
is rather less than three hundred weight, and that of an ox rather
more than four; but in mountainous districts, and where the roads are
neglected, one half of this weight is considered as a sufficient, if
not an excessive load.
The comparatively higher price of cattle on Java than in Bengal has
been accounted for from the demand for them as food, and the absence of
extensive commons on which to feed them.
When implements of husbandry are mentioned in British agriculture, many
expensive instruments, and complicated machinery suggest themselves
to those acquainted with its practical details. From the preparation
of the ground for receiving the seed, till the grain comes into the
hands of the miller, labour is economized and produce increased, by
many ingenious processes and artful contrivances, of which a Javan
could form no conception. He could form no idea of the fabrication or
advantages of our different kinds of ploughs; of our swing ploughs,
our wheel ploughs, and our two-furrow ploughs; of our grubbers,
cultivators, and other instruments for pulverizing the soil; of our
threshing and winnowing machines, and other inventions. A plough of
the simplest construction, a harrow, or rather rake, and sometimes a
roller, with a _páchul_, or hoe, which answers the purpose of a spade;
an _árit_, which serves as a knife or small hatchet; and the _áni áni_,
a peculiar instrument used by the reapers, are all the implements
employed by him in husbandry; and the total cost of the whole does not
exceed three or four rupees, or from seven to ten shillings.
The plough (_walúku_), in general use for the irrigated land, consists
of three parts, the body, beam, and handle. It is generally made of
teak wood, where that material can be provided, or otherwise of the
most durable that can be found: the yoke only is of _bámbu_. Simple as
it is, it appears, both in its construction and durability, superior
to the plough of Bengal, as described by Mr. Colebrooke, from which it
differs, in having a board cut out of the piece which forms the body,
for throwing the earth aside. The point of the body, or sock, is tipped
with iron, which in some districts is cast for the purpose. There is
another kind, of more simple construction, in use for dry and mountain
cultivation: this is termed _brújul_, and consists of but two parts.
Both kinds are so light, that when the ploughman has performed his
morning's work, he throws the plough over his shoulder, and without
feeling any inconvenience or fatigue, returns with it to his cottage.
For gardens, and for small fields adjoining the villages, the small
_lúku chína_, or Chinese plough, is used with one buffalo: the cost for
a good plough seldom exceeds a rupee and a half. The harrow (_gáru_),
which is rather a large rake having only a single rough row of teeth,
costs about the same sum, and is in like manner made of teak where
procurable; except the handle, beam, and yoke, which are of _bámbu_.
When used, the person who guides it generally sits upon it, to give it
the necessary pressure for levelling or pulverizing the soil.
The _páchul_ is a large hoe, which in Java serves every purpose of the
spade in Europe, and is consequently, next to the plough, the most
important implement in Javan husbandry. The head is of wood tipped
with iron; and the handle, which is about two feet and a half long,
frequently has a slight curve, which renders it more convenient for
use: its price is about half a rupee. The _árit_, or weeding knife,
costs about eight pence; and the _áni áni_, with which the grain
is reaped, about three pence. The latter is a small instrument of
peculiar shape. The reaper holds it in a particular manner, and crops
off with it each separate ear, along with a few inches of the straw.
This mode of reaping has been immemorially practised and is universally
followed. Some of the most intelligent people being questioned
respecting the origin of this operose process, answered, that it was
reported to have been established in ancient times as a _s'lámat_, or
grateful acknowledgment for an abundant harvest; that when his field
was covered with the bounty of Ceres, no reaper could refuse her this
acknowledgment; and that the religious discharge of this obligation was
guarded by the belief, that if he ceased to offer this tribute of his
labour at the season of harvest, the field would not continue to yield
him the same abundant return.
The lands are ploughed, harrowed, and weeded by the men, who
also conduct the whole process of irrigation; but the labour of
transplanting, reaping, and (where cattle are not used for the purpose)
of transporting the different crops from the field to the village, or
from the village to the market, devolves upon the women.
Besides the two general divisions of the year, marked out by nature
in the great changes of the earth and the atmosphere, there are other
periodical distinctions, depending on less obvious or more irregular
phenomena. These variations have been ascertained by a reference
to the course of the heavenly bodies, or the calculations of the
_wúku_, which are described in another part of this work. It is the
office of the village priest to keep this reckoning, and to apprize
the cultivators when the term approaches for the commencement of the
different operations of husbandry. Of these minor seasons of the
year, the first, commencing after the rice harvest which falls in
August or September, lasts forty-one days. During this season the
leaves fall from the trees, vegetation is interrupted, and the only
field labour performed is the burning of grass and vegetables, as a
preparation of the _tégal_ or _gágas_. In the second season, which
lasts twenty-five days, vegetation again resumes its vigour. The
third, which lasts twenty-four days, is considered the most proper for
planting sweet potatoes, yams, and such other vegetables as usually
form the second crop; the wild flowers of the forest are now in
blossom; and the period of what is termed dry cultivation commences.
The fourth, which lasts also twenty-four days, is the natural season
for the pairing of wild animals: high winds now prevail, the rains
descend, and the rivers begin to rise. During the fifth, which lasts
twenty-six days, the implements of husbandry are prepared, and the
water-courses examined and renewed: this is the commencement of the
wet cultivation. In the sixth season the ploughing of the _sáwahs_
and sowing of the _bíbít_ for the great rice crop takes place: this
season lasts forty-one days. In the seventh, which also lasts forty-one
days, _pári_ is transplanted into fields, and the courses of the water
properly directed. In the eighth, which lasts twenty-six days, the
plants shoot above the water and begin to blossom. In the ninth season,
which consists of twenty-five days, the ears of the grain form. In the
tenth, also consisting of twenty-five days, they ripen and turn yellow.
The eleventh, which lasts twenty-six days, is the period for reaping;
and in the twelfth, which consists of forty-one days, the harvest
is completed, the produce gathered in, and that dry clear weather
prevails, in which the days are the hottest and the nights the coldest
of the whole year. The accurate assignment of the number of days by the
natives themselves to the different operations of husbandry, affords
such complete information on this interesting subject, that any further
account would be superfluous. It may, however, be proper to observe,
that the periods above described chiefly refer to the progress of the
principal rice crop, as influenced by the annual rains; but there are
many lands rendered quite independent of these rains, by the vicinity
of streams which afford a plentiful supply of water at all times of the
year. In many favoured situations, it is even common to observe at one
view the rice fields in almost every stage of their cultivation; in
one, women engaged in planting the newly prepared soil, and in another,
the reapers employed in collecting the fruits of the harvest.
Lands in Java are classed under two general divisions; lands which are
capable of being inundated directly from streams or rivers, and lands
which are not so. The former are termed _sáwah_, the latter _tégal_
or _gága_. It is on the _sáwahs_ that the great rice cultivation
is carried on; and these admit of a subdivision, according to the
manner in which the land is irrigated. Those which can be irrigated
at pleasure from adjacent springs or rivers, are considered as the
proper _sáwah_; those which depend on the periodical rains for the
whole or principal part of the water by which they are fertilized,
are termed _sáwah tádahan_. The former are by far the most valuable,
and lands of this description admit of two heavy crops annually,
without regard to any particular time of the year: the fields seldom
exceed forty or sixty feet in breadth, and the water is retained in
them by means of a small embankment of about a foot in height. On the
slopes of the mountains, where this mode of cultivation is chiefly
found, these fields are carried gradually above each other in so many
terraces, for the purpose of irrigation, the water admitted in the
upper terrace inundating each of them in its descent. The _tégal_ lands
are appropriated to the culture of less important crops, such as the
mountain rice, Indian corn, &c.
The vast superiority of the _sáwah_, or wet cultivation, over that
of _tégal_, or dry, is shewn in their relative produce, and may be
still further illustrated by a comparison of the rents which the two
descriptions of land are calculated to afford. The quantity of _tégal_
land, or land fit for maize, as compared with that of _sáwah_ land,
varies in different districts. In _Chéribon_, the _tégal_ land, by
the late survey, amounted only to 2,511, while the _sáwan_ exceeded
16,000. In _Tégal_ the proportions were even more widely varied, the
number of _jungs_ of the former to the latter being as 891 to 11,445.
In _Surabáya_ they were as 1,356 to 17,397; in _Kedú_ and _Besúki_ they
were nearly equal, being respectively as 8,295 to 10,757, and as 6,369
to 7,862.
The succession of crops, next to the facility of irrigation, depends
upon the quality of the soil, which in the native provinces is divided
by the cultivators into three principal kinds, _tána ládu_, _tána
línchad_, and _tána pásir_. The first is the best, consisting of
rich vegetable mould, and a certain proportion of sand, and exists
chiefly near the banks of large rivers; the second is almost pure
clay, and is found in the central plains; and the third is alluvial,
and covers the maritime districts. The term _pádas péréng_ is applied
to the oblique tracts enriched with a fertile mould, which form the
acclivities of hills, and from which the water readily disappears.
_Tána ládu_ will bear a constant succession of crops. _Tána línchad_
yields only a single annual crop of rice: during the rainy season the
soil constitutes a stiff mud, in which the plants find the requisite
moisture and display all their luxuriance; when it is afterwards
exposed to the rays of the sun, it bursts into extensive fissures,
which admitting the scorching heat by which they were produced, become
detrimental to every species of vegetation.
Besides the annual crop of rice which is raised on the _sáwah_ lands,
a variety of plants are raised upon them as a second or light crop
within the same year. Among these are several species of _káchang_ or
bean, the cotton plant, the indigo, and a variety of cucumbers, &c.
But the more generally useful and profitable vegetables require nearly
the same period as the rice, and only yield their increase once in a
season: they mostly grow in situations, on which the supply of water
can be regulated, and a continued inundation prevented. Among the
most important are the _gúdé_, _káchang pénden_, or _káchang chína_,
_káchang íju_, _kédéle_, _jágung_ or Indian corn, _jágung chántel_,
_jáwa-wút_, _jáli_, _wíjen_, _járak_ or palma christi, _térong_, and
_kéntang jáwa_.
In _tégal_ lands of high situations a particular method of planting is
sometimes practiced, which produces a result similar to a succession
of crops. Together with the rice are deposited the seeds of other
vegetables, which arrive at maturity at different periods, chiefly
after the rice harvest. The most common and useful among these is
cotton; and, in some tracts, great quantities of this valuable product
is thus obtained, without any exclusive allotment of the soil. Next to
this are various leguminous and other plants, which do not interfere
with the rice. No less than six or eight kinds of vegetables are
sometimes in this manner seen to shoot up promiscuously in a single
field.
Rice, however, as has been repeatedly observed, is the grand staple
of Javan, as well as Indian cultivation, and to this every other
species of husbandry is subordinate. The adjacent islands and states
of Sumatra, Malacca, Borneo, Celebes, and the Moluccas, have always in
a great measure depended on the Javan cultivator for their supply,
and the Dutch were in the habit of transporting an annual quantity of
between six and eight thousand tons to Ceylon, to Coromandel, to the
Cape, and their other settlements. Even at the low rate at which it
generally sells, a revenue of near four million of rupees, or about
half a million sterling, has been estimated as the government portion
of its annual produce.
According to the modes of cultivation by which it has been reared, this
grain is called _pári sáwah_, or _pári gága_; corresponding, with some
exceptions, to the _pádi sáwah_, and _pádi ládang_ of Sumatra. In the
western, and particularly the _Súnda_ districts, the term _gága_ is
changed for _típar_, the term _gága_, in these districts, being only
occasionally applied to the grain which is cultivated on newly cleared
mountainous spots.
The lowland and the mountain rice, or more correctly speaking, the
rice raised in dry lands and the rice raised in lands subjected to
inundation, are varieties of the same species (the oriza sativa of
Linnæus) although both of them are permanent: but the rice planted
on the mountainous or dry ground does not thrive on irrigated lands;
nor, on the contrary, does the _sáwah_ rice succeed on lands beyond
the reach of irrigation. The mountain rice is supposed to contain in
the same bulk more nourishment than the other, and is more palatable;
but its use is limited to the less populous districts of the island,
the greater proportion of the inhabitants depending exclusively on the
produce of the _sáwahs_, or wet cultivation, for their support.
Stavorinus asserts, that the mountain rice is not so good as that
of the low lands. Mr. Marsden informs us, on the contrary, that the
former brings the higher price, and is considered of superior quality,
being whiter, heartier, and better flavoured grain, keeping better,
and increasing more in boiling. "The rice of the low lands," he says,
"is more prolific from the seed, and subject to less risk in the
culture; and on these accounts, rather than from its superior quality,
is in more common use than the former." In general, the weightiest
and whitest grain is preferred; a preference mentioned by Bontius,
who includes in the character of the best rice its whiteness, its
clearness of colour, and its preponderating weight, bulk for bulk.
Dr. Horsfield conceives that Stavorinus formed his opinion in the
low northern maritime districts of Java, and Mr. Marsden from a more
extensive observation. Many intelligent natives state, that they
prefer the mountain rice when they can procure it, on account of its
whiteness, strength, and flavour; and that they are only limited in
its use, by the impossibility of raising as much of it as can satisfy
the general demand, all the mountain or dry rice not being sufficient
to feed one-tenth of the population. In less populous countries, as in
many parts of Sumatra, the inhabitants can easily subsist the whole
of their numbers exclusively on mountain rice, or that produced on
_ládangs_, which are fields reclaimed from ancient forests for the
first time, and from which only one crop is demanded. The grain here,
as in the mountain rice of Java, is highly flavoured and nutritious;
but in countries where the population is crowded, where a scanty crop
will not suffice, and where a continued supply of new land cannot be
obtained, the peasantry must apply their labour to such grounds as
admit of uninterrupted cultivation, and renew their annual fertility
by periodical inundations, even although the produce is not so highly
prized.
In the _sáwahs_ of Java the fields are previously ploughed, inundated,
and laboured by animals and hoeing, until the mould is converted into
a semifluid mire: they then are considered fit to receive the young
plants. No manure is ever used. Oil-cakes (_búngkil_), which are by
some writers supposed to be used for this purpose generally, are only
employed in the gardens about Batavia. One of the chief characteristics
of the soil on Java, is an exemption from the necessity of requiring
manure: on the _sáwah_ lands, the annual inundation of the land is
sufficient to renovate its vigour, and to permit constant cropping for
a succession of years, without any observable impoverishment.
In the cultivation of the _sáwahs_, the plants are uniformly
transplanted or removed from their first situation. In those of _tégal_
or _gága_, they grow to maturity on the same spot where the seed was
originally deposited, whether this be on high mountainous districts,
or on low lands, the distinction of _sáwah_ and _gága_ depending
exclusively not upon the situation of the field, but in the mode of
culture, whether wet or dry.
In raising rice in the _sáwahs_, inundation is indispensable till it is
nearly ripe. The seed is first sown on a bed prepared for the purpose,
about one month before the season for transplanting it, and the plant
is during that time termed _bíbit_. Two methods are in use. According
to the first, called _úrit_, the ears of _pári_ are carefully disposed
on the soft mud of the seed bed; in the second, called _ng'éber_, the
separated seeds are thrown after the manner of broadcast in Europe. In
by far the greatest portions of the island, the ground is prepared,
the seed sown, and the plant removed, during the course of the rainy
season, or between the months of November and March. In situations
where a constant supply of water can be obtained from springs,
rivulets, or rivers, two crops are produced in the course of twelve or
fourteen months; but the advantage of double cropping, which exhausts
the soil without allowing it time to recover, has been considered as
very questionable. If in some situations commanding a supply of water,
the earth is allowed to rest after the preceding harvest, during the
latter end of the rainy season, and the transplantation made in the
months of June and July, it generally yields more profitable crops than
the common method of working the _sáwah_. This, which is termed _gádu_
by the natives, has been recommended by the experience of European
planters.
Irrigation is exclusively effected by conducting the water of rivers
and rivulets from the more or less elevated spots in the vicinity,
and in this respect, differs materially in its process from that of
Bengal, for although considerable labour and ingenuity are exercised in
detaining, regulating, and distributing the supply, by means of dams,
called _bandáng'ans_, no machinery whatever is employed in raising
water for agricultural purposes in any part of the island.
The rice grown on _sáwahs_, is of two kinds, _pári génja_ and _pári
dálam_. In the former, the harvest takes place four months after the
transplantation; in the latter, six months. _Pári génja_ having the
advantage of a quicker growth, is therefore often planted when the
rainy season is far advanced. _Pári dálam_ is more prolific, and
yields a grain of superior quality, comprising those varieties in which
the ears are longer and more compound. The varieties of each kind are
distinct and permanent.
The subvarieties are very numerous, amounting, with those of _kétan_,
to more than a hundred. _Kétan_ is a distinct variety, with very
glutinous seeds, seldom employed as an article of food, except in
confections, cakes, and the like. Of the varieties of the _pári
génsha_, _mentik_ and _anchar bántap_ are preferred. Of the _pári
dálam_, those of _krentúlan_ and _súka nándi_ are most esteemed, being
remarkably well flavoured and fit for keeping. _S'lámat jáwa_ yields
also rice of good quality. The bearded kinds of _pári_ are always
preferred for keeping, as the grains do not readily fall off. Near
_Súra-kérta_, the principal native capital, close to the site of the
former capital _Kérta-súra_, there is a peculiar tract inundated by
water from a fountain at _Píng'gíng_, which is said to produce a grain
of very superior flavour, from which the table of the _Susuhúnan_
is supplied. _Súka nándi_ is the kind uniformly preferred for these
plantations.
For _pári gága_, whether in high or low situations, the ground is
prepared by ploughing and harrowing, and the seed is planted after the
manner called setting in some parts of England. The holes are made
by pointed sticks, called _pónchos_, and into each hole two seeds
are thrown. Only careless husbandmen, or those who cannot procure
the requisite assistance in their labour, sow by broadcast. In high
situations the earth is prepared before the rains commence: the seed
is sown in the months of September or October, and the harvest takes
place in January and February following. _Gágas_ of low situations are
planted about a month after the harvest of the _sáwah_ is got in, and
frequently receive temporary supplies of water from a neighbouring
rivulet. In high situations, to which water cannot be carried, they are
sufficiently moistened by the first rains of the season. During their
growth, they receive several hoeings from the careful husbandman.
As the grain ripens, an elevated shed is frequently erected in the
centre of a plantation, within which a child on the watch touches,
from time to time, a series of cords extending from the shed to the
extremities of the field, like the radii of a circle, and by this cheap
contrivance, and an occasional shout, prevents the ravages of birds,
which would otherwise prove highly injurious to the crops. These little
elevated sheds in the interior, and particularly in the district of
_Bányumás_, are very neatly constructed of matting.
The reapers are uniformly paid, by receiving a portion of the crop
which they have reaped: this varies in different parts of the island,
from the sixth to the eighth part, depending on the abundance or
scarcity of hands; when the harvest is general through a district,
one-fifth or one-fourth is demanded by the reaper. In opposition to so
exorbitant a claim, the influence of the great is sometimes exerted,
and the labourer is obliged to be content with a tenth or a twelfth.
The grain is separated from the husk by pounding several times
repeated. The first operation is generally performed in wooden troughs,
in the villages near which it grows, and before it is brought to
market. The _pári_ being thus converted into _bras_ or rice, afterwards
receives repeated poundings, according to the condition or taste of the
consumer.
With the exception of the rice raised in _sáwahs_, all other produce
is cultivated on dry grounds, either on the _sáwah_ fields during the
dry season, or on _tégal_ land, at all times exclusively appropriated
to dry cultivation. The principal article next to rice, as affording
food to man, is maize or Indian corn, termed _jágung_. It is general in
every district of Java, but is more particularly an object of attention
on _Madúra_, where, for want of mountain streams, the lands do not
in general admit of irrigation. In the more populous parts of Java,
likewise, where the _sáwahs_ do not afford a sufficient supply of rice,
the inhabitants have lately had recourse to the cultivation of maize.
It is now rapidly increasing in those low ranges of hills, which, on
account of the poverty of the soil, had hitherto been neglected, and is
becoming more and more a favourite article of food. In the more eastern
districts, it is procured from the inhabitants of _Madúra_ in exchange
for rice. It is generally roasted in the ear, and in that state is
exposed while hot for public sale; but it is never reduced to flour, or
stored for any considerable time.
The _zea maize_, or common _jágung_, is a hardy plant, and grows on
any soil. In common with every other production of Java it thrives
there most luxuriantly; nor is there any reason to believe, that
the Javan soil is less adapted to it than that of Spanish America,
where Humboldt estimates its produce at a hundred and fifty fold. It
is planted in fertile low lands in rotation with rice, and in high
situations without intermission, often forming in the latter the chief,
if not the only, support of the inhabitants. There are three different
kinds, distinguished from each other by their respective periods of
ripening. The first kind requires seven months, and is a large rich
grain; the second takes only three, and is of inferior quality; and the
third, which seems valuable only on account of its rapid growth, ripens
in forty days, but has a poor small grain. They may be planted at all
seasons of the year; and of the two inferior kinds, several crops are
often raised from the same ground within the year.
Of other cerealia, the _jágung chántel_ is raised very partially
in particular districts, at no great distance from the capitals of
the interior, and mostly for the purpose of preparing from it, by
fermentation, a liquor sometimes drunk by the natives; as a general
article of food it cannot be enumerated. The _jáwa-wút_ and _jáli_
are still more confined in their use; although the natives have a
tradition, that on the first arrival of the Indian colonists on
Java, the former was the only grain found on the island: it yields a
pleasant pulp, and is made into several articles of confectionary. As
a principal article of food, or a substitute for rice, Indian corn can
alone be considered.
In times of scarcity, the natives make use of various kinds of the
plantain (_musa_), also the yam (_ubi_ of the Malays, and _uwi_ of
the Javans), the sweet potatoe, _katélo_ (convolvulus batatas), the
varieties of which are described in one of the early volumes of the
Batavian Transactions, and a number of leguminous vegetables, the
various kinds of beans (_káchang_), together with a species of grass
with minute yellow seeds, called _túton_, which in ancient times is
said to have formed a principal article of food, and the dried leaves
of some other plants; but, happily, these times seldom occur, and the
use of the _jágung chántel_ and _jáwa-wút_, as well as of the various
roots and leguminous vegetables to which I have alluded, is too limited
to produce any sensible effects on the inhabitants. Those natives who
make use of the Indian corn exclusively, inhabit the highest districts,
where the purity of the atmosphere counteracts any injury which their
health might otherwise sustain from the want of rice.
From the _áren_ (sagurus rumphii), which grows abundantly in many parts
of Java, a substance is prepared, similar in all respects to the true
sago of the Eastern Islands. It is particularly useful in times of
scarcity, when large numbers of these valuable trees are felled, for
the purpose of collecting the pith. The sap yields an excellent sugar
of a dark colour, in common use with the natives. The wine or _túwak_
(toddy) prepared from it is superior to that obtained from most other
palms.
A very agreeable pulp is prepared from the pith of this tree, pounded
with water, and exposed one night to spontaneous evaporation: it is
eaten with palm sugar, and found by no means unpleasant by Europeans.
The tuberous roots of a species of curcuma, _tému láwak_, grated and
infused in water, yields a similar pulp. Both are denominated _pátí_,
and daily offered for sale along the roads and in the interior.
All the varieties of the cocoa-tree, noticed on Sumatra, are to be
found on Java, where its quicker and more luxuriant growth is accounted
for by the superiority of soil. The principal varieties of the
cocoa-nut are enumerated in one of the early volumes of the Batavian
Transactions.
Of the oil-giving plants there are many. The _káchang góring_ of the
Malay countries, or, as it is indifferently termed by the Javans,
_káchang chína_, _pénden_, or _tána_, is cultivated almost exclusively
for the purpose of obtaining its oil, near the capitals of the
principal districts, both central and maritime. It requires a very
strong soil for its support, and as the cultivation is profitable,
the lands which produce it yield high rents. It is never employed as
an article of food by itself; but what remains of it after the oil is
expressed, forms an ingredient for the seasoning of rice, in one of
the common dishes of the natives. The oil is obtained by grinding the
seeds between two grooved cylinders, and then separating it either
by expression or boiling. The former is chiefly used by the Chinese,
and yields as a refuse the oil-cakes, which I formerly observed were
employed as manure in some of the gardens near Batavia. Where these
cylinders are not in use, the following mode is adopted: the nut
having been taken from the ground, is dried by exposure to the sun
for a few days; after which the kernel is extracted, and reduced,
by successive beatings in the Javan _lésung_ or mortar, to a grain
sufficiently small to pass through a sieve; it is then boiled by steam,
and having been allowed to cool for twenty-four hours, is put into a
basket, and in that state placed between two oblong planks, which,
being joined together at one extremity, are forced to meet at the
other, on the principle of a lemon-squeezer. The oil exuding from the
interstices of the basket is caught on an ox's hide, placed below to
convey it to an earthen receiver.
The _járak_, or palma christi, is cultivated in nearly the same manner
as maize, and thrives on similar soils: from this plant is obtained
most of the oil for burning in lamps. In extracting the oil from this
as well as from the cocoa-nut, various processes are employed, most
of which tend to accelerate the rancidity of the oil. A pure cold
drawn oil is not known. In the cocoa-nut, if the oil is obtained by
expression, the broken nuts from which it is made are exposed till
putrefaction commences. In other cases they are grated, and water being
poured upon them, the parts mixed with it form _sánten_, a white milky
fluid, which is evaporated till the oil alone remains. As this process
requires much time and fuel, a more economical method is often resorted
to: the milky fluid is left exposed for a night, when the oily parts
rise to the top, and being separated from the water are purified by a
very short boiling.
Of the sugar-cane, or according to the native term, _tébu_ (the name
by which it is designated, not only on Java, but throughout the
Archipelago), there are several varieties. The dark purple cane,
which displays the greatest luxuriance, and shoots to the length of
ten feet, is the most highly prized. By the Javans the sugar-cane is
only cultivated to be eaten in an unprepared state, as a nourishing
sweetmeat. They are unacquainted with any artificial method of
expressing from it the saccharine juice, and, consequently, with
the first material part of the process by which it is manufactured
into sugar. Satisfied with the nourishment or gratification which
they procure from the plant as nature presents it, they leave the
complicated process to be conducted exclusively by the Chinese.
The cane, as in the West Indies, is propagated by cuttings of about a
foot and a half long, which are inserted in the ground in an upright
direction, previously to the setting in of the rains. The Chinese
occasionally use oil-cake for enriching the lands; but where the plant
is only raised for consumption in its fresh state, no manure whatever
is thought requisite; and a good soil, without such preparation, will
yield three or four crops in succession.
The cane is extensively cultivated for the juice in the vicinity of
Batavia, where there are numerous manufactories, principally owned by
the Chinese. It is also cultivated for this purpose in considerable
tracts at _Júpara_ and _Pasúruan_, and partially in other districts
of the eastern provinces, where mills are established for expressing
it. Previous to the disturbances in _Chéribon_, sugar likewise was
manufactured in that district in considerable quantities, and furnished
an important article of export.
The coffee-plant, which is only known on Java by its European
appellation, and its intimate connexion with European despotism, was
first introduced by the Dutch early in the eighteenth century, and
has since formed one of the articles of their exclusive monopoly. The
labour by which it is planted, and its produce collected, is included
among the oppressions or forced services of the natives, and the
delivery of it into the government stores, among the forced deliveries
at inadequate rates. Previously to the year 1808, the cultivation of
coffee was principally confined to the _Súnda_ districts. There were
but comparatively few plantations in the eastern districts, and the
produce which they were capable of yielding did not amount to one-tenth
part of the whole; but, under the administration of Marshal Daendels,
this shrub usurped the soil destined for yielding the subsistence of
the people; every other kind of cultivation was made subservient to
it, and the withering effects of a government monopoly extended their
influence indiscriminately throughout every province of the Island.
In the _Súnda_ districts, each family was obliged to take care of
one thousand coffee plants; and in the eastern districts, where new
and extensive plantations were now to be formed, on soils and in
situations in many instances by no means favourable to the cultivation,
five hundred plants was the prescribed allotment. No negligence could
be practised in the execution of this duty: the whole operations of
planting, cleaning, and collecting, continued to be conducted under
the immediate superintendance of European officers, who selected the
spot on which new gardens were to be laid out, took care that they were
preserved from weeds and rank grass, and received the produce into
store when gathered.
A black mould intermixed with sand, is considered the best soil for
the coffee plant. In selecting a situation for the gardens, the steep
declivities of mountains, where the plant would be endangered either
by the too powerful heat of the sun or an entire want of it, or where
torrents in the rainy season might wash away the rich earth necessary
for its growth, are avoided. The best situation for them is usually
considered to be in the vales along the foot of the high mountains, or
on the gentle declivities of the low range of hills, with which the
principal mountains are usually skirted; and it is found that, _cæteris
paribus_, the greater is the elevation of the garden, the longer is the
period of its productiveness, and the finer is the berry.
Having selected a proper spot for the garden, the first operation is
to clear the ground of trees, shrubs, and the rank grass or reeds, the
latter of which, termed _galúga_, are often found in these situations,
and generally indicate a rich soil. In clearing the ground, it is the
practise to collect together into heaps, and burn the trees, roots,
and other rubbish found on it, the ashes of which serve to enrich
the soil: when the trees are very large, the heavy labour of rooting
them up is avoided, and the trunks being cut about five feet from the
ground, are left in that state to rot, and in their gradual decay still
further to enrich the land. As soon as the ground is thus cleared, it
is levelled by three or four ploughings at short intervals, and laid
out to receive the plants. A fence is planted round them, about twelve
feet from their outer row, generally of the _júrak_, or palma christi,
intermixed with either the _dádap_, or the silk cotton tree; and, in
low situations, outside of this a ditch is dug to carry off the water.
These operations commence in August or September, and by the time the
ground is in perfect readiness for planting, the heavy rains are nearly
over. It then only remains to select the young plants, and prepare the
_dádap_ which is intended to shade them.
Of the _dádap_ tree there are three kinds; the _seráp_, _dóri_, and
_wáru_: but the first is preferred on account of the greater shade
it affords. It is propagated by cuttings, and in selecting them for
the coffee plantations, care is had that they are taken from trees at
least two or three years old, and that they be three or four feet long,
of which one foot at least must be buried in the ground. After the
_dádaps_ are planted, holes are dug, from a foot and a half to two feet
deep, for the reception of the coffee plant, which is then removed from
the seed place or nursery, and transplanted into the gardens.
In coffee gardens of four or five years old, are found quantities of
young plants, that have sprung up spontaneously from the ripe berries
dropping off the trees, and when these can be obtained about fourteen
inches long, of a strong healthy stem, large leaves, and without
branches, they are preferred to others: but as the plants thus procured
are seldom found in sufficient quantities, nurseries for rearing them
are formed as follows: When the berries are allowed to remain on the
shrub after maturity, they become black and dry: in this state they
are plucked, and sown in seed beds lightly covered with earth: as soon
as two small leaves appear, the plants are taken from the bed, and
transplanted, about a foot asunder, under the cover of sheds prepared
for that purpose; in about eighteen months, these plants are fit for
removing into the garden or plantation where they are destined to
yield their fruit. In taking the young plant up, the greatest care is
necessary not to injure the roots, especially the tap root, and with
this view it is generally removed with as much earth attached to it
as possible. This precaution has the additional advantage of not too
suddenly bringing the plant in contact with a new soil.
The plantations are generally laid out in squares. The distance between
each plant varies according to the fertility of the soil: in a soil not
considered fertile, a distance of six feet is preserved, and in each
interval is a _dádap_ tree for the purpose of affording shade; but in a
rich soil, where the plant grows more luxuriantly, fewer _dádaps_ are
necessary, and the plants are placed at a greater distance from each
other.
On Java a certain degree of shade seems necessary to the health of
the coffee-plant, especially in low situations and during its early
age; and the _dádap_ is found better calculated for affording this
protection than any other shrub in the country. It is a common saying,
that where the _dádap_ flourishes, there also will flourish the coffee:
but they are not always constant or necessary companions; for in high
lands many of the most flourishing gardens are to be observed with
very few _dádaps_. The coffee tree yields fruit for a period of twenty
years, yet in the low lands it seldom attains a greater age than nine
or ten years (during six or seven of which only it may be said to
bear), and the fruit is comparatively large and tasteless.
About the end of the rainy season, such coffee plants and _dádaps_ as
have not thriven are replaced by others, and the plantations cleaned:
this latter operation, in gardens well kept, is generally performed
three or four times in the year: but the tree is never cut or pruned,
and is universally allowed to grow in all its native luxuriance. In
this state, it often in favoured situations attains the height of
sixteen feet, and plants of not less than eight inches broad have
frequently been procured from the trunk. The general average produce of
a coffee-tree is not estimated at much more than a _káti_, or a pound
and a quarter English, notwithstanding some yield from twenty to thirty
_kátis_.
There does not appear to be any fixed or certain season for the coffee
to arrive at maturity. In the _Súnda_ districts the gathering usually
commences in June or July, and it is not till April that the whole
crop is delivered into store. The season, however, generally gives
what is termed three crops; of which the first is but small, the
second the most abundant, and the third, being what is left to ripen,
may be considered rather as a gleaning. When the berries become of a
dark crimson colour, they are plucked one by one, with the assistance
of a light _bámbu_ ladder or stage, great care being taken not to
shake off the blossoms which are still on the tree, or to pluck the
unripe fruit. The women and children usually collect the crop, while
the husband is elsewhere engaged in harder labour. Attached to every
principal village, near which there are coffee plantations of any
extent, there is a drying-house, to which the newly gathered coffee is
brought: it is there placed on hurdles, about four feet from the floor,
under which a slow wood fire is kept up during the night. The roof of
the drying-house is opened in the mornings and evenings, to admit the
air, and the berries are frequently stirred to prevent fermentation. As
the heat of the sun is considered prejudicial, the roof of the house
is closed during the day. This operation is repeated till the husk is
quite dry. The berries dried in this way are small, and of a sea green
or greyish colour, and are supposed to acquire a peculiar flavour from
the smoke, although it does not appear that any particular kind of wood
is used for fuel. When dried in the sun, the bean becomes of a pale
bleached colour, is larger, specifically lighter, and more insipid to
the taste than the former. The most common mode of freeing the bean
from the husk is, to pound the berries when dry in a bag of buffalo's
hide, great care being taken not to bruise the bean. A mill of simple
construction is sometimes used, but is not found to answer so well. The
coffee being then separated from the husk, is put into bags or baskets,
and kept on raised platforms till the season of delivery, when it is
carried down to the storehouse, sometimes by men, but generally on the
backs of buffaloes and mares, in strings of fifteen hundred or two
thousand at a time.
In the _Súnda_ districts there have been, for many years past, three
principal depôts for receiving the coffee from the cultivators; viz.
at _Buitenzorg_, _Chikàn_, and _Karang-sámbang_. From _Buitenzorg_ it
is either sent direct to Batavia by land in carts, or by the way of
_Linkong_, whence it is forwarded in boats by the river _Chi-dáni_.
From _Chikàn_ the coffee is sent in boats down the river _Chi-táram_,
and thence along the sea-coast to Batavia. From _Karang-sámbang_ it is
sent down the river _Chi-mánok_ to _Indra-máyu_, where it is received
into extensive warehouses, and whence it is now generally exported for
the European market.
Under this system, the _Súnda_ districts were estimated to afford an
annual produce of one hundred thousand _píkuls_ of one hundred and
thirty-three pounds and a quarter each, and it was calculated that
the young plantations in the eastern districts, when they should come
into bearing, would produce an equal quantity; but in this latter
quarter, many of the gardens had been fixed on ill-judged spots, and
the inhabitants were averse to the new and additional burden which
this cultivation imposed upon their labour. Had the system, therefore,
even been persevered in, and enforced by a despotic authority, it is
questionable, whether the quantity anticipated in the above estimate,
or even one half of it, would have been obtained from the eastern
districts. The _Súndas_ living in an inland and mountainous country,
and having been long accustomed to the hardship of the coffee culture,
are less sensible of its pressure than the rest of their countrymen:
time and habit have reconciled them to what was at first revolting,
and what must always be considered as unjust; their modes of life,
their arts, their domestic economy, and other social habits, have all
adapted themselves to a species of labour, which was at first forced
upon them; and a state of servitude, which the philosopher would
lament as a degradation, is scarcely felt to be a grievance by them.
Instances, however, are not wanting, in which the usual measure of
exaction having been surpassed, they have been awakened to a sense of
their wretchedness. A government of colonial monopolists, eager only
for profit, and heedless of the sources from which it was derived,
sometimes subjected its native subjects to distresses and privations,
the recital of which would shock the ear of humanity. Suffice it to
say, that the coffee culture in the _Súnda_ districts has sometimes
been so severely exacted, that together with the other constant and
heavy demands made by the European authority on the labour of the
country, they deprived the unfortunate peasants of the time necessary
to rear food for their support. Many have thus perished by famine,
while others have fled to the crags of the mountains, where raising a
scanty subsistence in patches of _gánga_, or oftener dependent for it
upon the roots of the forest, they congratulated themselves on their
escape from the reach of their oppressors. Many of these people, with
their descendants, remain in these haunts to the present time: in their
annual migrations from hill to hill, they frequently pass over the
richest lands, which still remain uncultivated and invite their return;
but they prefer their wild independence and precarious subsistence,
to the horrors of being again subjected to forced services and forced
deliveries at inadequate rates.
It is difficult to say what was the recompense received by the
cultivator previous to the year 1808. The complicated system of
accounts which then prevailed, seemed only calculated to blind the
government, and to allow the European commissary to derive an income of
from eighty to one hundred thousand dollars (25,000_l._ per annum), at
the expence of the authorities by whom he was employed, and the natives
whom he oppressed. This, in common with most of the establishments on
the island, underwent a revision in the time of Marshal Daendels; and
it was then directed, that the cultivators should receive on delivery
at the storehouses, three rix-dollars copper for each mountain _píkul_
of two hundred and twenty-five pounds Dutch, being little more than
one dollar per hundred weight, or one half-penny per pound. This same
coffee was sometimes sold at Batavia, within fifty miles of the spot
where it was raised, at twenty Spanish dollars the hundred weight, and
has seldom been known to bring in the European market less than eleven
pence the pound. This, however, was deemed a liberal payment by the
Dutch, though in some cases it had been transported over sixty miles
of an almost impassable country, where two men are required to carry a
hundred-weight of coffee, on their shoulders, at an expence of labour
which one would suppose at least equal to this remuneration.
Under the administration of the British government, the free
cultivation of coffee, in common with that of all other articles, was
permitted to the inhabitants of Bantam, _Chéribon_, and all the eastern
districts; and at the time when the island was again ceded to the
Dutch, arrangements were in progress for extending the same provision
throughout the _Súnda_ districts, under a conviction, that the quantity
produced would not be less under a system of free cultivation and free
trade, than under a system in which it was found necessary, as one of
the first acts of European authority, to compel the native princes to
direct "the total annihilation of the coffee culture within their
dominions," and to secure by treaty with them the destruction and
confiscation of all coffee found in the hands of the natives[46]. A
considerable portion of the peasantry, as already observed, have long
been accustomed to the cultivation, and it is owing to their skill and
experience, as much as to any direct superintendence or interference
of the European officers (who generally derive their information from
the native chiefs, and have little more to do, than occasionally to
ride through the garden with a pompous suite, keep the accounts, and
examine the coffee as it is received), that the coffee has so long
been furnished for the European market; the experience obtained in
the eastern districts, during the last three years, proves at least
that coercive measures are unnecessary. There are many parts of Java,
particularly the _Príang'en_ regencies, where the soil is peculiarly
and eminently adapted to the cultivation; and although it is difficult
yet awhile to fix the exact rate at which the coffee might be produced
under a free system, it may be calculated to be raised for exportation
at about forty shillings per hundred weight.
Of the quality of the Javan coffee, in comparison with that of other
countries, it may be observed, that during the last years, it has
invariably maintained its price in the European market in competition
with that of Bourbon, and rather exceeded it, both of them being higher
than the produce of the West Indies. During the last years of the
British administration on Java, and after the opening of the European
market again afforded a demand, about eleven millions of young coffee
shrubs were planted out in new gardens.
Pepper, which at one time formed the principal export from Java, has
for some time ceased to be cultivated to any considerable extent. It
was principally raised in Bantam, and the dependencies of that province
in the southern part of Sumatra; and in the flourishing state of the
monopoly, these districts furnished the Dutch with the chief supply for
the European market.
But the system by which it was procured was too oppressive and
unprincipled in its nature, and too impolitic in its provisions, to
admit of long duration. It was calculated to destroy the energies of
the country, and with them, the source from whence the fruits of this
monopoly proceeded. In the year 1811, accordingly, neither Bantam nor
its dependencies furnished the European government with one pound of
this article.
That pepper may be produced on Java, and supplied at a rate equally
moderate with that at which other productions requiring similar care
are furnished, cannot admit of a doubt, and this reasonable price
may be estimated at about six or seven Spanish dollars (thirty to
thirty-five shillings) the píkul. The plant grows luxuriantly in
most soils, and when once reared requires infinitely less care and
labour than coffee. The cultivation of it on Sumatra and Prince of
Wales' Island having been so accurately and minutely described by Mr.
Marsden and Dr. Hunter, it would be unnecessary here to detail the
system followed on Java, as it is in most points the same. The only
peculiarity regarding it which may deserve notice is, that on this
island the plant is allowed to grow to a much greater size, entwining
itself round the cotton trees, frequently to the height of fifty and
sixty feet.
Indigo, called _tom_ by the Javans, and by the _Súndas tárum_, is
general, and raised in most parts of the island. The indigo prepared
by the natives is of an indifferent quality, and in a semifluid state,
and contains much quick-lime; but that prepared by Europeans is of very
superior quality.
An inferior variety, denominated _tom-ménir_, having smaller seeds,
and being of quicker growth, is usually planted as a second crop in
_sáwahs_, on which one rice crop has been raised. In these situations,
the plant rises to the height of about three feet and a half. It is
then cut, and the cuttings are repeated three, or even four times,
till the ground is again required for the annual rice crop. But the
superior plant, when cultivated on _tégal_ lands, and on a naturally
rich soil, not impoverished by a previous heavy crop, rises in height
above five feet, and grows with the greatest luxuriance. The plants
intended for seeds are raised in favoured spots on the ridges of the
rice fields in the neighbourhood of the villages, and the seed of one
district is frequently exchanged for that of another. That of the rich
mountainous districts being esteemed of best quality, is occasionally
introduced into the low lands, and is thought necessary to prevent
that degeneration, which would be the consequence of cultivating for
a long time the same plant upon the same soil. In the province of
_Matárem_, where indigo is most extensively cultivated, it is sold in
the market in bundles, as low as eight-pence the píkul weight; but in
the vicinity of _Semárang_, and in districts where it is not produced
in great abundance, it bears an advance upon this price of fifty per
cent.
The climate, soil, and state of society on Java, seem to offer peculiar
advantages to the extensive cultivation of this plant; and under the
direction of skilful manufacturers, the dye stuff might form a most
valuable and important export for the European market. The periodical
draughts and inundations, which confine the cultivation and manufacture
in the Bengal provinces to a few months in the year, are unknown in
Java, where the plant might, in favoured situations, be cultivated
nearly throughout the whole year, and where at least it would be
secure of a prolonged period of that kind of weather, necessary for
the cutting. The soil is superior, and a command of water affords
facilities seldom to be met with elsewhere; while, from the tenure on
which the cultivators hold their land, and the state of society among
them, advances on account of the ensuing crop, which in Bengal form so
ruinous a part of an indigo concern, are here unnecessary, and would be
uncalled for.
The dye (_níla_ blue) is prepared by the natives in a liquid state, by
infusing the leaves with a quantity of lime: in this state it forms
by far the principal dye of the country. Besides the quantity of it
consumed within the island, it is sometimes exported to neighbouring
countries by native traders, and sold at the rate of from a dollar and
a half to three dollars the _píkul_, according as the plant may be in
abundance or otherwise.
It is impossible to form any idea of the rate at which this species of
dye can reasonably be manufactured for the European market, from the
prices paid by the Dutch, both because the article was one of those
classed by them under the head of forced deliveries, and because the
regents, who were entrusted with its exclusive management, not fully
understanding the process of making it, conducted it always in a very
expensive way, and were frequently exposed to entire failures.