rights, however infringed, are in principle acknowledged, and who
have never been known to favour, what must be considered the chief
misfortune of these countries, and the source of almost all the rest,
the horrible system of piracy. The evil is manifest, and the remedy is
not of difficult discovery. Were legitimate and acknowledged sovereigns
assisted in resuming their due authority, piracy and rebellion
might be destroyed, these shores would be peopled with their native
inhabitants, whose industry, awakened and invited by the opening of
a safe navigation to the capitals, would in fleets of small vessels,
so essential to the prosperity of the Eastern settlements, bring the
produce of the interior down the innumerable rivers, and communicate
to countries, beyond the reach of foreign adventurers the comforts of
civilised life.
A few years of repose to these islands, and of safe uninterrupted
commerce, with its attendant blessings, would repay with gain
incalculable, what they now claim from the benevolence and
philanthropy, if not from the justice of Europeans, who have so
essentially contributed to their degradation. If left neglected,
without capital, without a safe navigation, almost without laws, the
government disunited, the people groaning under vassalage and slavery,
these races must descend still further in the scale of degradation,
until scarcely a vestige will remain to vindicate the records of their
history; and their political existence will only be testified by acts
of piracy perpetrated on defenceless vessels, which from accident or
ignorance may visit their inhospitable shores.
In all their Eastern settlements, the favourite policy of the Dutch
seems to have been to depress the native inhabitants, and give every
encouragement to the Chinese, who, generally speaking, are only
itinerants and not children of the soil, and who follow the almost
universal practice of remitting the fruits of their industry to China,
instead of spending them where they were acquired. The Chinese, in all
ages equally supple, venal, and crafty, failed not, at a very early
period, to recommend themselves to the speculating Hollanders. They
have, almost from the first, been their agents; and in the island of
Java, in particular, they acquired from them the entire monopoly of the
revenue farms and government contracts. Many of the most respectable
Dutch families were intimately connected with the Chinese in their
contracts and speculations, and whole provinces had been sold in
perpetuity to some of them, the extensive population of which were thus
assigned over to their unfeeling oppression, for the purpose of raising
temporary supplies of money.
On Java, the Chinese have been generally left to their own laws and the
regulations of their own chiefs; and being, for the most part, merely
temporary residents in the country, they devote themselves to the
accumulation of wealth, without being very scrupulous about the means
of obtaining it: when, therefore, they acquire grants of land, they
generally contrive to reduce the peasants speedily to the condition of
slaves. The improvement of the people, which was never much attended
to by the Dutch, was still less so by the Chinese, and the oppression
which they exercised in the vicinity of Batavia had opened the eyes of
the Dutch themselves. A report of the Council of Batavia, a short time
prior to the landing of the English, accordingly states, that "although
the Chinese, as being the most industrious settlers, should be the most
useful, they on the contrary have become a very dangerous people, and
are to be considered as a pest to the country; for which evil," they
add, "there appears to be no radical cure but their expulsion from the
interior." Wherever the Chinese formed extensive settlements in Java,
the native inhabitants had no alternative but that of abandoning the
district or becoming slaves of the soil. The monopolising spirit of the
Chinese was often very pernicious to the produce of the soil, as may be
seen even at this day in the immediate vicinity of Batavia, where all
the public markets are farmed by them, and the degeneracy and poverty
of the lower orders are proverbial.
The Chinese of Batavia are a very numerous body, and possess
considerable wealth. They are active and industrious, enterprising and
speculative in the highest degree in the smallest or most extensive
concerns, and equally well adapted for trade or agriculture; but, at
the same time, they are cunning, deceitful, covetous, and restless,
and exceedingly unwarlike in their habits and dispositions. This is
the character given of them by Mr. Hogendorp, who, in considering the
injurious consequences of their extensive influence on Java, has drawn
a very just and able representation of it[67].
In all the Malayan states, the Chinese have made the greatest efforts
to get into their hands the farming of the port duties, and this
has generally proved the ruin of the trade. In addition to these
circumstances it should be recollected, that the Chinese, from their
peculiar language and manners, form a kind of separate society in
every place where they settle, which gives them a great advantage over
every competitor in arranging monopolies of trade. The ascendancy of
the Chinese requires to be cautiously guarded against and restrained;
and this, perhaps, cannot be better done, than by bringing forward
the native population, and encouraging them in useful and industrious
habits.
Some of these observations regarding the Chinese are, in a high degree,
applicable to the Arabs who frequent the Malayan countries, and under
the specious mask of religion prey on the simple unsuspicious natives.
The Chinese must, at all events, be admitted to be industrious; but by
far the greater part of the Arabs are mere useless drones, and idle
consumers of the produce of the ground: affecting to be descended from
the Prophet and the most eminent of his followers, when in reality
they are commonly nothing better than manumitted slaves, they worm
themselves into the favour of the Malayan chiefs, and often procure the
highest offices under them. They hold like robbers the offices which
they have obtained as sycophants, and cover all with the sanctimonious
veil of religious hypocrisy.
Under the pretext of instructing the _Maláyus_ in the principles of the
Mahometan religion, they inculcate the most intolerant bigotry, and
render them incapable of receiving any species of useful knowledge.
It is seldom that the East is visited by Arabian merchants of large
capital, but there are numerous adventurers who carry on a coasting
trade from port to port, and by asserting the religious claims of
Sheikh, generally obtain an exemption from all port duties in the
Malayan states. They are also not unfrequently concerned in piracies,
and are the principal promoters of the slave-trade.
This may serve, in some degree, to illustrate the necessity of
establishing an equal and uniform system of port regulations throughout
the whole of the Malayan countries; for if the Chinese, on the one
hand, are permitted to farm import and export duties in different
ports, they have every facility allowed them to form combinations, in
order to secure a monopoly to Chinese traders; and on the other hand,
if the Arabs, under religious pretexts, are entirely exempted from
duties, they may baffle all competition, and engross the trade of the
Malayan countries to the exclusion of European traders altogether.
Let the Chinese and Arabs still trade to the eastward. Without them,
the trade would be reduced to less than one-third of even what it is
at present, for it is only through the stimulus which they give to
the industry of the country that its resources are to be developed:
but let their trade be regulated; and above all, let them not be left
in the enjoyment of immunities and advantages, which are neither
possessed by Europeans, nor the indigenous inhabitants of the country.
Since the reduction of the Dutch influence in the East, several of the
ports formerly dependant on them have almost become Arab colonies. The
evil is obviously increasing every day, and can only be checked by
encouraging the native population, and regulating on equal terms the
duties of the Malayan and other Eastern ports.
In many other respects besides those which we have stated, the
commercial policy adopted by the Dutch, with regard to the Eastern
islands and the Malayan states in general, was contrary to all
principles of natural justice, and unworthy of any enlightened and
civilized nation[68].
From authentic accounts it appears, that they attempted to destroy and
eradicate from a vast range of countries the most advantageous produce
of the land, in order to favour their own petty traffic, and burnt a
large proportion of the residue, in order to keep up their monopoly
price in Europe on a small proportion of this produce. Against errors
of this kind, it is to be hoped the more enlightened policy of the
present era will be an effectual preventive; but there are others,
so interwoven with the interests of these islands, and so local in
their nature, that they may not so easily attract the attention of the
governing power.
One feature of the Dutch policy in the Eastern Isles seems to have
been the exclusion of all foreign trade, whether European or native;
excepting at certain specified ports under their own immediate control.
This policy was as much connected with the general government of the
country, as with the commercial profits of the Company; for in an
Archipelago of such unparalleled extent, inhabited by tribes of such
various characters, formidable in a high degree from their very want
of civilization, it was necessary to bring forward some of the most
powerful and most favourably situated of these numerous states, and
to hold them answerable for the proceedings of the several districts
under their influence. Such views gave rise to the establishment of
certain regular and determined trading ports, and led to the vigilant
suppression of all attempts at competition and independence on the
part of the inferior states.
Had this measure been combined with a liberal encouragement of the
home trade, as it may be denominated, between these privileged ports
established by the Dutch, and the various countries under their
influence, little doubt can be entertained that it would have tended
materially to promote the civilization and general improvement of all
the neighbouring nations. Very different, however, was the object
of the Dutch agreements with the different rajas of the Eastern
Archipelago. In some cases it was to secure a monopoly of all the
tin, pepper, camphor, and other saleable articles produced in their
dominions; in others it was to bind the chiefs themselves to destroy
the only saleable articles that their country could furnish, lest the
monopoly price of the Dutch should be injured by a greater quantity
of such produce being brought to market. The Dutch genius, though
exclusively devoted to commerce, has never yet been able to discover
the truth of the maxim, that in the long run it may be as gainful "to
make small profits on large sales as large profits on smaller sales;"
their policy, on the contrary, has not been inaptly compared to a man
putting out one of his eyes to strengthen the sight of the other.
It must be admitted, that the line of conduct pursued by the English
towards the Malayan nations, had by no means been of a conciliatory or
prepossessing character. Our intercourse with them had been carried on
almost exclusively through the medium of adventurers little acquainted
with either the country or people, who have been frequently more
remarkable for boldness than principle[69]. Indeed, the want of any
settled basis of traffic, and the long indifference of the British
government to the complaints of either party, had produced so many
impositions, reprisals, piracies, and murders, that any eastern trader
must have felt himself very much in the situation of a dealer in
spirits, tobacco, and blankets, among the Indians of North America. It
was the remark of Mr. Farquhar, than whom no man is more extensively
acquainted with the interests and resources of East insular India,
that the indifference of the British government must have originated
solely in the want of information or incorrectness of knowledge;
since it is not improbable, that the riches of Sumatra and Borneo are
equal to those either of Brazil or New Spain; and it is only from the
disadvantages under which we had hitherto entered into the competition,
that these great sources of wealth had so long been engrossed by other
nations[70].
The doctrine, that a colony should always be considered a distant
province of the mother-country, has been foreign to the political creed
of the Dutch; and at any rate the radical want of strength in the
government of Batavia may have prevented them from venturing to act
upon it. Of course, they must always have contemplated the prosperity
of the eastern tribes with the invidious regret of a rival shopkeeper,
and regarded their progress in civilization with the jealousy of a
timid despot. The fact sufficiently establishes the truth of this
remark.
Independently of the effects of the European influence just described,
the causes which have tended most to the depression of the Malayan
tribes, and the deterioration of their character, are the civil
commotions to which every state is liable, from the radical want
of strength in the sovereign; the constant wars between the petty
chieftains and heads of villages; the ill-defined succession to
the throne, from the doctrine of primogeniture being imperfectly
recognized; the prevalence of piracy in all the Eastern Seas; the
system of domestic slavery, and all its concomitant evils, as wars for
the purpose of procuring slaves, and the want of confidence between
family and family, man and man; the want of a generally-established,
and recognized system of laws, civil and criminal; the want of a
similar system of commercial regulations respecting port duties,
anchorage, and other charges, to prevent arbitrary exactions and
impositions in the various Malayan ports; and, finally, the monopoly of
the trade assumed by the Malayan rajas. Had Java remained permanently
annexed to the British crown, the redress of these evils would have
been, in a great measure, in the power of the English nation: the
undertaking would have been worthy of their general character, and
there was no other nation that could have possessed the means in an
equal degree, even if it had indeed possessed the inclination.
The prevalence of piracy on the Malayan coasts, and the light in which
it was viewed as an honourable occupation, worthy of being followed by
young princes and nobles, is an evil of ancient date, and intimately
connected with the Malayan habits. The old Malayan romances, and the
fragments of their traditional history, constantly refer with pride to
piratical cruizes.
In addition to other causes, which I shall not stop to specify, the
state of the eastern population, and the intolerant spirit of the
religion of _Islam_, have eminently tended to increase the practice.
The Arab Sheikhs and Sayeds, whatever doctrines they failed to
inculcate, never neglected to enforce the merit of plundering and
massacring the infidels; an abominable tenet, which has tended more
than any other doctrine of the _Kóran_ to the propagation of this
religion. Numerous and various are the tribes of the Eastern Isles
which have not embraced the religion of _Islam_ to this day, and
consequently are reckoned infidels: cruizes against such were, and
are, constantly certain of receiving the approbation of all the Arab
teachers settled in the Malayan countries. The practice of piracy is
now an evil so extensive and formidable, that it can be put down by
the strong hand alone; though precautions against its recurrence might
be taken, by rendering, under the system of acknowledged ports, every
chieftain answerable for his own territory.
Connected with this evil, though of much wider extent, is the system
of slavery in the Malayan countries, which, to apply the energetic
language of Mr. Pitt to this subject, has been none of the least
efficient causes of keeping down these regions "in a state of bondage,
ignorance, and blood." In the beginning of the year 1805, the Marquis
Wellesley abolished slavery throughout India; and, on the 4th of June,
1811, the Earl of Minto, by an order to emancipate all the government
slaves at Malacca, and to direct that hereafter no slaves should be
purchased or received on account of government, gave to the Malayan
nations an earnest of his sentiments on the subject. It is certainly
to the credit of our countrymen in the East, that they have ever
opposed all attempts to introduce the abominable slave traffic into
our settlements there. It was prohibited at Madras by an act of the
Governor and Council, of so early a date as 1682.
The sources of slavery in the Malayan countries are chiefly piracy at
sea, captivity in war, manstealing along the coast, and the penalties
enacted in the Malayan law respecting debts and sundry misdemeanors.
The surviving crews of vessels which fall into the hands of the
pirates are generally disposed of by sale at the first market. The
captives taken in the constant wars which the Malayan chieftains
carry on against each other, are generally employed in domestic
occupations, tending cattle, and cultivating the ground, where there
is no opportunity of bringing them to market. This, however, is seldom
the case, since such numbers are constantly required by the Arabs
and Chinese traders, and heretofore by the Dutch. Many of the Arab
trading vessels are almost exclusively navigated by the slaves of the
owner; and in their progress from island to island, they find little
difficulty in recruiting their crew, by receiving presents of slaves,
or if that should fail, by kidnapping the unfortunate natives. This
forms a strong argument against admitting the unrestricted range of the
islands to either Chinese or Arab traders; for while this is permitted,
the abolition of the system of kidnapping would be absolutely
impossible. The pagan tribes in the vicinity of the Mahometans, such as
those on _Báli_, and some of the tribes of Celebes, the _Harafúras_,
the black _Papúas_ or oriental negroes, the original inhabitants of
_Hálamahíra_, _Coram_, and other easterly nations, are in a great
measure the victims of the kidnapping system, and being infidels are
considered as fair booty.
Nothing has tended more decidedly to the deterioration of the Malayan
character, than the want of a well defined and generally acknowledged
system of law and commercial regulation. The Malayan nations had,
in general, made considerable progress in civilization, before
the introduction of the Mahometan religion among them: they had,
accordingly, regular institutions of their own, some of which were
probably of considerable antiquity, derived from the continent of
India, and consequently radically different from those of the Arabs.
Some difficulty appears to have occurred in adapting these institutions
to the general tenor of the Mahometan law, and many anomalous ones
appear accordingly to have sprung up in different states. These occur
in every part of jurisprudence, whether commercial, civil, or criminal,
and are recited in the _Undang úndang_ and _Adat Maláyu_, which are the
systems of national law among the _Maláyus_. They vary considerably
from each other in different states, and still more from the generally
acknowledged principle of Mahometan law, as received by the Arabs.
Hence there is, in almost every state, a constant struggle between the
adherents of the old Malayan usages and the _Hájis_, together with
other religious persons, who are desirous of introducing the laws of
the Arabs, in order to increase their own importance.
Among the numerous and important evils which result from this complex
and ill-defined system, may be reckoned its affording an opening
for the caprice and tyranny of the rulers, and producing a general
insecurity both of person and property.
The state of the Moslem religion is very different here from what it is
in the old Mahomedan states, such as Persia, Turkey, or Arabia. In many
of the Eastern Islands paganism still remains: in some districts there
are many Christians, and the Chinese swarm in every Malayan country,
and live intermingled with the Mahomedans. This mixture of religion
and tribes has tended, in some degree, to soften the intolerance
of the Mahomedan system among the Malayan nations, and neither the
positive authority of _Islam_, nor the persuasions of their Arab
teachers, have hitherto been able to induce them to abandon entirely
their own peculiar usages and customs. With some of these usages,
especially those which relate to wrecks on the Malayan shores, and the
commercial regulations of the different ports, it becomes incumbent
on the supreme European authority to interfere. In revising these,
the opportunity might perhaps be taken to procure the abandonment of
some of those maxims and usages, which have the strongest tendency to
prevent their improvement, and counteract the habits of civilized life.
A circumstance highly injurious to the commerce of the Malayan
nations is the trading monopoly, which in most of the Malayan ports
is actually assumed by the chiefs. Of this monopoly there is no trace
in the _Undang úndang_ of the _Maláyus_, or in the fragments of their
history which have yet come to light, and it is a question whether this
pernicious practice has not been copied from the monopoly regulations
of the Dutch. Where this system has been fully carried into effect,
it has generally succeeded effectually in repressing industry and
commercial enterprize; and where it has been for some time established,
its evils have been felt so deeply, that it may be presumed the Malayan
chiefs might be induced to relinquish it in favour of a regulated
commerce, whenever they might regain the power of collecting regular
duties in lieu of it. The Malayan laws and customs are fortunately
of a very different kind from those adopted among the great nations
of the continent in their vicinity. These nations, especially the
Siamese and Cochin Chinese, have long been accustomed to look up to
the Chinese, with whom they coincide in religion and manners, and from
whom they have adopted their exclusive maxims of foreign intercourse.
The _Málayus_, on the other hand, though accustomed to look up to the
Arabs as their religious instructors, seldom hesitate to admit the
superiority of both the Europeans and Chinese, both to themselves
and to the Arabs, in the arts of life and general science; and it is
certainly our interest to encourage them in this mode of thinking, and
to prevent the increase of the Arab influence among them.
The Dutch nation appears to have pursued, as a principle of policy, the
propagation of Christianity among the Eastern Islands. The same object
had been previously followed by the Portuguese with great success,
and there are now several small islands in the Malayan Archipelago,
inhabited almost exclusively by Christians of the Catholic persuasion.
In many other islands the Protestant persuasion has made considerable
progress, and teachers, in the flourishing times of the Batavian
Regency, were dispersed over all the low chain of islands which
extend from _Báli_ and Lumbok (_Sásak_) to the great island Timor.
The islands in which the Christian faith has been most extensively
diffused are the great island _Endé_ or _Meng' arái_, the great island
of _Tímor_, and the several small islands in the vicinity, and Amboina.
In many of these islands the natives having no written character of
their own, have been instructed in the Roman character, and taught to
read Malayan and other dialects in it There have also been various
formularies printed for their use, and translations have been executed
for them in some of their languages, which have little or no affinity
to the Malayan. The propagation of Christianity among these islands
is obviously liable to none of those objections which have been
urged against its missionaries on continental possessions. A great
proportion of the natives are still pagans, under the influence of a
wild and almost unintelligible superstition, the principles of which
are not recorded in books, but are handed down, like stories of ghosts,
fairies, and witches, with all the uncertainty of tradition. In most
instances, the people, though they stand in great awe of the priests or
enchanters, or dealers with invisible spirits, are very little attached
to the superstition in which they are educated. Many of them are said
to be very desirous of procuring instruction, and in some places they
look up with a degree of veneration to the Mahomedans, as a people who
have received something which they still want.
These observations on the Malayan Islands in general, apply to no part
of the Archipelago more than to the important and great island of
Borneo.
BORNEO is not only one of the most fertile countries in the world, but
one of the most productive in gold and diamonds[71]. Its camphor is
the finest known, and it is thought capable of producing every kind
of spice. Its eastern coasts, which abound in sago, also furnish a
greater quantity of birds'-nests, sea-slug, and other commodities in
great demand in the Chinese market, than the other islands of the
East; but the interior has never been explored by Europeans. It may be
conjectured, that the ignorance of the state of the country is one of
the principal causes that no European settlement on it has hitherto
proved advantageous, but has generally been abandoned after a short
trial. The only exception to this observation is the Dutch settlement
of _Bánjer-másin_, which continued from 1747 to 1810, when it was
formally abandoned by Marshal Daendals to the Sultan, by agreement,
for the sum of fifty thousand Spanish dollars. The Sultan soon after
sent an embassy, inviting the English to settle; and previous to
the conquest of Java, the Earl of Minto received the ambassadors at
Malacca, and accepted their invitation.
The only territory to which the Dutch had any claim on the island of
Borneo, was the coast from _Súkadána_ to _Mempáwa_; this territory they
acquired by virtue of a cession from the Sultan of Bantam in 1778.
They destroyed _Súkadána_, and established factories at _Pontiána_ and
_Mempáwa_, which however they abandoned as unproductive after a period
of fourteen years.
In no other part of the island of Borneo has there been any European
settlement. The English, in 1772, intended to have established a
factory at _Pásir_, but they abandoned the design on some commotions
taking place in that state. Its object was to make _Pásir_ a depót for
opium and India piece goods, and for the contraband trade in spices. In
1774, a short time after the first settling of _Balambángan_, Mr. Jesse
was deputed as Resident to Borneo _proper_, and concluded a treaty with
that state, by which he acquired for the settlement of _Balambángan_
the exclusive trade in pepper, stipulating in return to protect
Borneo from the piratical incursions of the _Súlu_ and _Mendanáwi_
men. Neither of the parties, however, fulfilled its agreement, though
the Residency at Borneo was continued for some years after the first
breaking up of the settlement of _Balambángan_ in 1775.
On the north-east of Borneo _proper_ lies a very considerable
territory, the sovereignty of which has been long claimed by the _Súlu_
government; a very considerable part of this, together with the islands
off the coast, have been for upwards of forty years regularly ceded
to the English by the _Súlus_, and has also at different periods been
assumed by them, without any objection on the part of the government
of Borneo _proper_. This ceded district, extending from the river
_Ki-manis_ on the north-west, which forms the boundary of Borneo
_proper_, to the great bay on the north-east, is undoubtedly a rich and
fertile country, though in a rude and uncultivated state, and it is
admirably situated for commerce, notwithstanding the different failures
of _Balambángan_ may seem to indicate the contrary. _Balambángan_ is
one of the small islands off the northern extremity of the island of
Borneo, and included in the _Súlu_ grant to the English. It would be
foreign to the present object to enter into any details concerning
the history of the settlement of _Balambángan_, but it may be proper
to mention, that all the gentlemen who were engaged in the last
attempt were convinced that the bottom of the great _Malúdu Bay_ would
have been infinitely preferable as a settlement on every account.
_Balambángan_ is exactly analogous, in every respect, to Pinang; it
does not admit of territorial extension, and must exist, if at all, by
commerce solely. _Malúdu_, on the other hand, is a dependency on the
island of Borneo, which admits of any degree of territorial extension,
may always subsist any number of inhabitants by its own produce, and
is said to communicate, by a land carriage of little more than forty
miles, with the central lakes in the vicinity of the gold countries.
From every inquiry, however, and the result of some experience, and
much reflection, it may be stated, that no settlement which is founded
on a commercial, instead of a territorial basis, is likely to succeed
in that quarter. We have already acquired territorial rights, and
therefore the only question seems to be, whether these cannot be turned
to advantage, as well by cultivation as by commerce. The _Dáyaks_, or
original inhabitants of Borneo, are said to be not only industrious,
but particularly disposed to agriculture, and so manageable, that a
handful of _Maláyus_ have, in numerous places, reduced many thousands
of them to the condition of peaceful cultivators of the ground.
Indeed nothing seems wanting but a government strong enough to afford
efficient protection to person and property. In the case of the
_Dáyaks_, it must be considered as an advantage, that they have not
hitherto adopted the religion of Islam, and would consequently be more
ready from the first to regard us as their friends. It ought to be
calculated among the inducements to form a settlement on Borneo, that
in that quarter our territorial arrangement would interfere with the
claims or the rights of no European nation. To recommend, however, the
immediate establishment of a settlement at this particular spot, and
on a basis so new, would obviously be premature, as notwithstanding
the length of time we occupied _Balambángan_, not only the interior
of Borneo was almost unknown, but until lately, even a great part of
its coasts. This supineness in the government of _Balambángan_ is
perhaps not unexampled. The want of local information has, indeed,
often proved fatal to the infant settlements of the English. "Colonies
and settlements of every kind," says the author of the Letter on the
Nagrais Expedition, "must at first be attended with many difficulties,
which however a judicious perseverance will surmount, if there be not
some original fault in the establishment. It must be obvious to every
one, that the English never made a settlement, in which they were not
impeded by some unforeseen difficulties, so as at least frequently to
make abandoning the infant establishment appear the most prudent step,
without even hoping any return for the prodigious expense which may
have been incurred by the undertaking."--"Various reasons," adds that
author, "may be ascribed for this event; but incapacity in the person
entrusted with the management, and the want of previous examination
of the place, seem to me the most common and the most considerable."
Without stopping to inquire how far the want of success in our several
attempts to settle _Balambángan_ may have been fairly attributable
to either of these causes, it may be confidently asserted, that the
last establishment failed chiefly from its being solely of a military
nature, without either professional merchants or mercantile adventurers
being attached to it.
These observations respecting _Balambángan_ apply to it chiefly as a
territorial establishment; but there is no doubt that it would speedily
attain commercial importance. Many of the commercial advantages which
recommended its selection still exist, to an equal or greater extent;
especially those which related to Cochin China, Champa, and Cambodia.
But this digression has already exceeded its reasonable limits, and it
is necessary to revert to the more immediate point under consideration,
the commerce of Java. Any account of this commerce would be imperfect,
which after stating the extent to which it is carried, and the mode
in which it is conducted with the adjacent islands in the same
Archipelago, should omit to mention the advantages of an intercourse
with Japan, and some notices on the Japan trade.
The history of the Dutch connexion with that country is well known,
and can never be forgotten. Perhaps there is not such an instance in
the annals of commerce, of the disgraceful arts to which mercantile
cupidity will resort, and the degradation to which it will submit for
the attainment of its object, as in the Dutch proceedings at Japan; nor
is there, perhaps, a more remarkable example of the triumphant success,
and complete disappointment of commercial enterprize. As it may be
interesting to many readers to see an authentic history of the origin,
fluctuations, and decline of the Dutch Japan trade, and as even a very
succinct statement of it would swell this chapter to a disproportioned
size, I have placed a short history of it in the Appendix to this
work, to which I beg leave to refer those who have any curiosity for
such details[72]. From the year 1611, when the Dutch established
commercial relations with Japan, till 1671 (a period of sixty years),
their speculations were unrestricted and their profits were enormous.
This was the golden age of their trade: they opened a mine of wealth,
and they fondly thought it inexhaustible, as well as rich and easily
wrought. In 1640, the Company obtained a return in gold, that yielded
a profit of upwards of a million of guilders. They had been accustomed
to procure, for some time previous to 1663, a return of silver to the
extent of two hundred chests of one hundred pounds each, and it was
suggested that it would be desirable for as many chests of gold of
the same weight to be sent in future. The golden and silver ages of
Japan commerce being past, the latter half of the seventeenth century
began with what the Dutch called its brazen age, that is its export
of copper, which has ever since continued the staple of the Japan
market. The trade was on the decline during the whole of the last
century, and had become of so little importance about 1740, that the
Company deliberated upon the expediency of its total abandonment. From
employing, as at one time, eight or nine ships, and exporting copper
alone to the amount of more than thirty thousand _píkuls_, of one
hundred and twenty-five pounds each, it diminished to the use of two
vessels, and the purchase of cargoes of five or six thousand _píkuls_.
The Appendix contains an account of the nature of the trade, and the
result of the Dutch adventures of 1804-5 and 1806, and of our own in
1813.
FOOTNOTES:
[54] Great Britain.
[55] It is said that when the Dutch first established themselves in
Java, three hundred vessels of not less than two hundred tons each,
were accustomed to sail to and from the port of Japára, in Java, if not
belonging to that port.
[56] The greatest part, or rather nearly the whole of these exports and
imports, consisted of colonial produce, of articles of subsistence,
or native manufactures, mutually exchanged between the two islands of
Madúra and Java. Not a tenth part of the imports came from beyond Java.
[57] "The bazars," observes Mr. Hogendorp, "now produce a large, and
even an incredible amount, which however is melted away in the hands of
the native regents and also some European authorities; but the Chinese,
to whom they are mostly farmed out, derive the greatest profits from
them, both by the money which they extort from the Javans, and by the
monopolies in all kinds of produce, and particularly of rice, which by
these means they are enabled to secure to themselves. The abuses on
this point are horrible, and almost induce me to recommend that the
markets should be made free and open."
[58] See account of Chéribon.
[59] Although but few of the natives of Java venture their property
in foreign speculations, the natives of Java form the crews of all
coasting vessels belonging to Chinese, Arabs, or Europeans, and it is
of them almost exclusively that the class of common sailors, known in
the east under the general denomination of Malays, is composed. Here it
may not be improper to notice the manner in which European vessels have
hitherto been supplied with such crews, and to point out the probable
causes of that atrocious conduct with which the Malayan sailor is so
generally reproached.
A reference to the maritime customs of the _Maláyus_ will shew the
manner in which the outfit of a native vessel in the Eastern Seas is
effected[73]. Each individual on board has a share and interest in the
concern, and among themselves the maritime population is distinguished
for good faith and attachment. In the vessels either commanded or
owned by Chinese or Arabs, the same principle is attended to; and
although the common sailors in these generally receive wages, the petty
officers, who are also generally Javans, have some trifling interest
in the cargo, the common men are protected by them, and the policy
of the commanders induces every possible attention to the usages,
prejudices, and comforts of the crews. They are able to assimilate more
nearly with them, and to enter more immediately into their feeling and
their wants, than it is possible for Europeans to do, and as they do
not possess the authority to obtain crews by force, it is only by a
character for good treatment that they can insure an adequate supply
of hands. These vessels navigate throughout the whole extent of the
Archipelago, to Malacca and Acheen on one side, and to the Moluccas and
New Guinea on the other. They are manned exclusively by Javans, usually
called Malays, and no instances occur of the crews rising either upon
the Arab or Chinese commander: they are, on the contrary, found to be
faithful, hardworking, and extremely docile. How is it when Malays are
employed in vessels belonging to Europeans? The Javans are originally
not a seafaring people; they have an aversion for distant voyages, and
require the strongest inducements to quit the land, even for a coasting
expedition in the smooth seas of their own Archipelago, beyond which,
if they ever engage themselves on board a colonial vessel, they make
an express agreement, not to be carried: European vessels in want
of hands for more distant voyages to Europe, India, and China, have
been compelled therefore to resort to force or fraud, as the means of
obtaining crews. The Dutch government were in the habit of employing
people, known among the Javans by the term _sélong_, as kidnappers,
who prowled about at night, pounced upon the unwary peasant who might
be passing along, and hurried him on ship-board. When the direct
influence of government was not used, the native regents or chiefs
were employed to obtain people for the crews of vessels: this they
did sometimes in the same manner, though more frequently condemning
to sea as many as were required, by an indiscriminate draft on the
neighbouring population. The native chiefs were perhaps paid a certain
head-money, on what may have been considered by the European commanders
as nothing more than _crimpage_. The people who were seized were seldom
of a seafaring class, but almost entirely landsmen, in many instances
perhaps opium smokers, or persons obtained from the lowest and most
worthless part of the community. Once embarked, their fate was sealed
for ever, and due care was taken that they never landed again on Java,
as long as their services as sailors were required.
In this manner are obtained that extensive class of sailors,
denominated Malays, who are found on board almost every country ship in
India, and inhabit the sea-ports in considerable numbers, particularly
Calcutta, where they have a distinct quarter allotted them. They are
taken from their home against their will, and in violation of all their
views and habits. In general, neither their language or customs are
in the least understood by their new master, for though most of the
commanders in the eastern trade may speak the Malayan language, and be
accustomed to the Malayan character, they know nothing of the Javan
language, and but little of the manners, habits, and prejudices of the
Javan people.
That numerous instances have occurred, in which they have appeared the
foremost in mutiny and in the massacre of their officers, will not be
denied; but it is well known, that many instances of ships being cut
off by the Malay crews, have been occasioned by the tyrannical and
inhuman character of the commanders; and however dreadful the massacre,
some excuse may be made on the score of provocation, for a people low
in the scale of moral restraint and intellectual improvement. In some
cases they have been made the instruments and dupes of the villany of
others, and have merely followed in the track of cruelty. In general,
so little care seems to be devoted to the comforts of these people,
and so much violence offered to their habits, that a person accustomed
to observe the course of human action, and to calculate the force of
excited passions, is almost surprized to find the instances of mutiny
and retaliation are so few.
[60] From a course of experiments recently undertaken, and a careful
examination of the bird, by Sir Everard Home, Bart., there is every
reason to believe that the nature of the substance of which the edible
birds'-nests are composed will be satisfactorily explained.
[61] Mr. Hogendorp makes the following observations on the cotton of
Java. "This article of produce, which now, in order to provide the
Company with a few hundred _píkuls_ of cotton-yarn at a low rate, is
only productive of vexation and oppression to the poor natives, might
be made of the greatest value, both to Java itself and to the mother
country. The plant grows in abundance and of good quality, especially
if the best kinds of seeds are procured from the Coromandel Coast and
the Isle of France. The cultivation of cotton is not at all injurious
to any other branch, for after the rice harvest is the best season for
planting the cotton, and before the rains, when the fields are again
ploughed for rice, the cotton is ripe and gathered.
"Little of it is comparatively planted at present; indeed only the
necessary quantity, after providing the natives with coarse cloths, for
the government contingent. In rough cotton there is no trade at all:
but, in fact, what trade is there on Java, except the monopoly trade of
the Chinese?
"Let us but suppose the cultivator to have a property in the soil, and
that he, as well as the trader, were at liberty to buy and sell, how
soon should we see the Javan planting cotton directly after his rice
was reaped. After being cleaned by machinery and screwed into bales, it
might be exported to China and Europe.
"There is no doubt that the Javan cotton would be as good at least,
if not better, than the cotton of the English, whether from Bombay,
Madras, and Bengal, and it might certainly be produced cheaper; but
even suppose that, when cleaned and picked, it cost ten rix-dollars a
_píkul_, the Javans would still be well paid."
[62] By an official statement of the quantity of sugar manufactured at
Batavia and the various residencies of the island of Java, from the
year 1779 to the year 1808, it appears that
In the year 1779 it was 30,131 _píkuls_.
In the year 1800 106,513
In the year 1801 107,498
In the year 1808 94,903
that during the first fourteen of these years, the quantity made and
delivered over to the Company for export to Holland, Persia, &c.
amounted to 642,234 _píkuls_, or to an average of 47,874 annually,
two of these years being almost entirely unproductive, on account
of the non-payment to the manufacturers of money, to enable them to
carry on their business. During the latter half of the period, or from
1794 to 1808, the quantity manufactured and delivered over to the
Company amounted to 917,598 _píkuls_, averaging 65,542 annually. All
the sugar for export, during this period, as stated in the text, was
delivered over at fixed rates to the government, and was placed under
laws of the strictest monopoly. To shew the great practicability of
an increase to almost any extent, we may adduce the sudden start in
the supply occasioned by the American demand in 1800. In no preceding
year had this article of produce been delivered over to the Company to
a greater amount than 67,552 _píkuls_, and in that year the quantity
sold at Batavia to Americans alone, amounted to 91,554, and for the
subsequent years averaged 100,000 _píkuls_, and sold for 900,000
Java rupees, or 11,000_l._ sterling. The principal part of this was
manufactured at Batavia, the quantity supplied by _Jawâna_, _Japâra_,
_Chéribon_, _Surabáya_, and _Semárang_, being but proportionally small
till 1803, when _Japára_ contributed to the exports of the island in
this article 12,219. In 1804, the same province supplied 21,175 píkuls.
The disadvantage under which the manufacturer laboured, by forced
deliveries at inadequate rates, need not be here insisted on, though
it must be taken into the account in any estimate of the attainable
increase of the manufacture.
[63] Mr. Hogendorp makes the following observations on the coffee
and pepper of Java:--"In comparing the produce of the West Indian
islands, according to their proportionate extent, population, and
expenses of cultivation, I have frequently left off in the middle of my
calculations; but I am sure that Java, on a very moderate calculation,
can without difficulty yield fifty millions of pounds of coffee
annually.
"For a long period, the planting of coffee was confined to the Batavian
high and _Priáng'en_ lands, and to _Chéribon_, on the principles of
that short-sighted and self-destroying policy and spirit of monopoly,
by which the company and the government of Batavia have ever been
characterized. It is only of late years that it has been permitted to
extend and revive the cultivation in the eastern districts. But the
Commissioners, in May 1796, ordered that the cultivation should be
abolished; and in the month of September in the same year, this order
was countermanded, and the planting of coffee ordered to be promoted
in the most rigorous manner possible. But what is to be expected from
a country, where the natives are so treated, so oppressed? To-day the
Javan is ordered to plant his garden with coffee trees: he does so, and
although well aware how little he will get for the fruit, he sees them
grow up with pleasure, considering their produce as a tribute which
he must pay to his master for enjoyment of protection; but now, when
they are about to bear fruit, he is ordered to root them out: he does
so, and four months afterwards he is again ordered to plant others!
Can a more infamous tyranny be imagined? Can it be credited, that any
government should act so madly, so inconsistently? And yet this is
the plain and real truth. But how can stupid ignorance, which by the
vilest means, by base meanness, mercenary marriages, and every kind of
low trick, rises into power and importance, and then becomes by wealth
luxurious, and by flattery intoxicated, act otherwise? And will you,
Batavians, continue to trust in such hands as these, your valuable
possessions and interests in India?
"Pepper grows but slowly on any soil, and is so nice with regard to
it, that in some places, where to all appearance there would be an
abundant produce of the plant, it will not grow at all. The vine
requires four or five years to produce fruit. The improvident Javan,
who under the present despotic administration, can and will scarcely
provide for his daily subsistence, finds this too long a delay between
his labour and its reward: having, therefore, no sufficient motive to
pursue the cultivation cheerfully or actively, he can only be driven
to it by force; but let him once experience the advantage of property
in land; let him see the trader ready with plenty of money to purchase
the fruits of his labour; let him, if he should still be idle, observe
his more industrious neighbour acquire wealth, by the sale of those
articles which he slothfully declines to cultivate, and with it
procure the necessaries or conveniences of life, and he will soon be
induced, by emulation and the desire of ameliorating his condition, to
plough and plant his ground. The Island of Java will then produce a
considerable quantity of pepper, for which, if the cultivator obtains
twelve rix-dollars per _píkul_, he will be amply paid.
"Although every thing goes on with difficulty at first, and it
cannot be denied that it will require time and trouble to stimulate
the Javans, who are now confounded, as it were, with tyranny and
oppression, to industry and emulation, it is notwithstanding equally
certain, that an improved system of administration, founded on property
of the soil, freedom of person and trade, would by degrees, though
perhaps much quicker than may be imagined, bring about such a change,
and that Java might and would produce as much pepper for exportation
annually as coffee, or about two hundred thousand _píkuls_, which will
bring three thousand six hundred rix-dollars into the country."
In the year 1801, it was estimated by one of the first commercial
houses in Europe, that the following quantities of pepper might be
obtained from different ports of the Archipelago.
* * * * *
"PORTS _and_ PLACES _where_ PEPPER _is to be had_:--_estimated in March
1801_.
"At _Bencoolen_, belonging to the English, may be had about twelve
hundred tons of pepper per annum.
"At _Prince of Wales Island_, belonging to the English, may be had at
present only one hundred tons per annum: in a few years it will be five
hundred tons.
"At _Susú_, on the west coast of Sumatra, belonging to the King of
Acheen, may be had one thousand tons per annum.
"At _Acheen_ and its ports, belonging to the King of Acheen, may be
had about one thousand tons per annum: the Danes often go to these two
ports.
"At _Tringano_ and _Kalanton_, belonging to a Malayan prince, may be
had about two thousand tons per annum: the Europe Portuguese ships
often call at these ports on their way to China.
"At _Palembang_: the Dutch have a small fort here, and oblige the king
to send all his pepper to Batavia; it may be about seven hundred tons
per annum.
"At _Lampung_, on the south point of Sumatra: the Dutch have a small
fort here, and they send all their pepper to Batavia; it may be about
five hundred tons.
"At _Bantam_ may be had five hundred tons: this belongs to the Dutch.
"At _Bánjer-másin_, on the south-west of Borneo: the Dutch have a fort
here, and the rajah sends all his pepper to Batavia: it may be about
twelve to fifteen hundred tons per annum.
"At _Chintabun_, near Siam, belonging to the King of Siam, may be had
one thousand tons per annum: this goes to China in the king's junks."
[64] "Ceylon, it may be observed, will consume two thousand kóyans
annually (four thousand tons). There is also a ready market at the
Cape of Good Hope, for one thousand kóyans a year. A scarcity of this
grain frequently happens on the coast of Coromandel, when the import
of it from Java will yield great profit, if the traders are permitted
to export it. The general freedom of commerce and navigation, and the
encouragement such freedom holds out to the merchant, will establish
and extend a ready communication and friendly relation between Batavia
and the trading places of India. In the article of rice, Java possesses
advantages superior to Bengal; for although this grain is generally
very cheap there, yet the navigation from and to Bengal is always more
difficult than that from and to Java, from whence, at all seasons
of the year, the passage may be made to most parts of India: and in
Bengal it often happens, that the rice is very scarce and dear, and
even that a famine rages there. On the island of Java, on the contrary,
although the crops may sometimes partially fail in a few places, a
general and total failure never happens: at least there is no instance
of it on record. It may also be considered, whether the exportation of
rice from Java to Europe might not become an object of speculation.
The cargo of a ship of five hundred lasts, or kóyans, would only cost
fifteen thousand rix-dollars, which cannot be reckoned at more than
thirty thousand guilders; and the kóyan being calculated at three
thousand five hundred pounds, the only question would be, what would
be the value of one million seven hundred and fifty thousand pounds
of rice in Europe, and if the undertaking would afford a reasonable
gain? Even China is sometimes much in want of rice, and the export
of it to that country would often, if not always, turn out very
advantageous."--_Hogendorp._
Rice was exported both to England and China, during the provisional
administration of the British government on Java.
[65] The rupees are throughout calculated at thirty stivers each.
[66] If current report is to be credited, the fate of this unfortunate
prince has been at last sealed; and the undisputed successor of "that
great and puissant king," to whom Queen Elizabeth gave an assurance,
"that far from ever having cause to repent an intercourse with the
English, he should have a most real and just cause to rejoice at it;"
and to whom, on the part of the English nation, she gave a pledge,
"that her promises were faithful, because the conduct of her subjects
_would be prudent and sincere_"--has been obliged to abdicate his
throne in favour of the son of a Pinang merchant!
[67] "We, the Batavians," says Mr. Hogendorp, "or rather our good and
heroic ancestors, conquered these countries by force of arms. The
Javans, who are immediately under our jurisdiction, acknowledge the
Batavian nation or the East India Company as their lord or sovereign;
but by so doing, although they resigned their political rights, they
still retained their civil and personal liberty, at least their right
thereto. But what relation do the Chinese bear to us, and what are the
rights they can require from us? As foreigners and itinerant traders,
this may be easily defined, but as inhabitants and settlers a further
inquiry becomes necessary. To political rights, or to a share in the
government and revenues of the country, they have not the slightest
claim, and as inhabitants, they cannot even claim the enjoyment of
the same civil or personal privileges as the Javans: in the first
place, because they are not natives of the country; secondly, because
they take no interest in the welfare or preservation of the country;
thirdly, because they only endeavour to derive their gain at the
expense of the Europeans as well as the Javans, in order to return to
China with the profits they make, or at least to send as much of it as
possible to their families there; fourthly, because they have no regard
whatever to the welfare of our country, and would be quite indifferent
to the English, or any other nation, driving us from Java. For these
reasons, I conceive that the Chinese have not the same right as the
Javans to the freedom or privilege of citizens. The basis of all civil
communities is incontrovertibly the sacrifice of a part of the liberty,
rights, and even property of each individual, for the enjoyment and
security of the remainder; and this remainder, when fixed, forms the
civil freedom and privileges of such a community. Not only are the
Chinese quite exempt from this sacrifice, but they are also, by the
corruption of the Batavian government, much less burdened than all the
other inhabitants, even the Europeans, and are besides favoured with
considerable privileges and exclusive means of gaining wealth. These
are facts, which no one who is acquainted with Batavia can or will
contradict.
"Were impartial justice to be adhered to, the Chinese would be looked
upon and treated only as foreigners, who are suffered and admitted, as
long as it is not injurious to our interest and safety, to settle in
our country and under our protection, seeking in trade or agriculture
their means of subsistence and emolument, and to whom, on account of
their numbers, it is allowed by our indulgence, as long as they conduct
themselves well and peaceably, to preserve and practise their own
manners and customs, and even in particular places, to dwell together
under their own chiefs.
"All the Chinese who come to Java every year in such vast numbers, in
the junks from China, or in other vessels from neighbouring places,
are the refuse of their nation, and principally from a province, the
natives of which are considered by their own countrymen the worst of
the whole empire. These people come half naked and poor in the extreme:
they add, therefore, so many more to the population, which must be
supported by the country, to which however they contribute nothing. It
must be acknowledged, they are, particularly at first, very active,
industrious, inventive, and frugal. At Batavia they exercise almost
every useful art, trade, and handicraft, they cultivate and produce the
best vegetables, they work the sugar-mills, and appear therefore to be
uncommonly useful and perhaps indispensable.
"The trade in the interior, wholesale and retail: the trade to sea, to
the opposite shores, and elsewhere in the Straits, is entirely in their
hands, and is almost wholly carried on by them. In all considerable
places on the coast, as well as in the interior of Java, they have
distinct towns, called kampongs, where they live under their own
chiefs, and follow their own customs and manners. Finally, they have
exclusively all the farms of the government taxes and revenues, both
in the Company's districts and in the dominions of the native princes:
by which means they are complete masters of all trade, internal and
foreign; and are enabled to make monopolies in every thing, which they
do accordingly in the most extensive manner. The burthens they have
to bear are, on the contrary, very trifling; in fact, almost nothing:
especially because they are exempt from all feudal and personal
services, which are so oppressive to the Javans.
"To what can this impropriety and injustice be ascribed but to the
government of Batavia? The Chinese have obtained all these favours
and privileges by making considerable presents, and thus sacrificing
the interests of the Company and the nation to their selfishness and
avarice. These arbitrary governors of the East Indies have made the
Chinese possessors of Java: for I undertake to prove, that the wealth
of the Chinese on that island amounts to ten times as much as the
property of all the Europeans added together, and that their profits
every year bear the same proportion.
"With reference to their numbers and character, I am of opinion that
the following resolutions regarding them might be adopted: That the
Chinese on Java should be allowed to remain, and even that further
arrivals of them should be permitted; care being taken, however, to
keep them in good order, that they should be prevented from injuring
the Javans, either by force or fraud: that they be not more favoured
than others: that they should contribute a proportionate and equitable
share towards the revenues of the state for their enjoyment of the
rights of citizenship, in the same manner as other inhabitants, which
can best be effected by means of a capitation tax. Uncultivated and
uninhabited lands might then be granted or sold to the Chinese, as well
as to the natives, to establish sugar-mills or plantations. By these
means, every practicable use and advantage would be derived from them,
as an industrious and active people, without doing any injury to the
other inhabitants, and especially the Javans as natives of the country:
and because they have no interest in our national welfare, they should
be made, as an equitable compensation, to pay a higher rate to the
state. In other respects, they may be completely subjected to our laws,
and may be treated with kindness as well as justice.
"The number of Chinese on Java is much greater than is generally
imagined, and annually more of them arrive by thousands. By connexions
with the native women, their families increase in inconceivable
numbers. These half-Chinese retain the language, religion, manners,
customs, and even the dress of their fathers; and are generally called
Pernakans, although that name is also frequently applied exclusively
to those Chinese who embrace the Mahometan religion; and these, as a
separate class of people, have their own chiefs, or sometimes confound
themselves with the Javans, and can only be distinguished by their
lighter complexion."
[68] Among the exports from Java for the Europe market, no particular
notice has been taken in the text of the extent of the spice trade, the
produce of the Moluccas having, during the provisional administration
of the British government, been conveyed direct from Amboina to the
port of London, without being landed and re-assorted at Batavia, as was
formerly the case under the Dutch government.
The sovereign Prince of the Netherlands has, by a solemn act, abandoned
his right to the feudal services of his native subjects in the Eastern
Archipelago, but has at the same time reserved to the state the
exclusive monopoly of the spices. It may perhaps have been deemed
expedient, in aid of the finances of Great Britain, that this odious
monopoly should have been permitted to remain for upwards of five years
under her uncontrolled dominion; and that, while the cloves on Amboina
were raised by forced services, the nutmeg gardens on Banda should
have been cultivated by slaves. There may have been reasons also which
induced her to continue the system of extirpation in the neighbouring
islands, and to act up to those stipulations for depressing these
unhappy countries, for which the Dutch have in all ages been so justly
reprobated. But now that the sovereign, to whom they are again ceded,
has recommenced the Dutch administration in the Eastern seas, with
an appearance of something more like justice, humanity, and sound
policy than we have been in the habit of witnessing for the last two
centuries, it is to be hoped that the profits of two annual cargoes
of spices, whatever they may amount to, will never be considered of
sufficient importance to tempt a great and magnanimous nation longer
to trample on the hallowed rights of humanity, and to persevere in
a system, which, while it may have afforded a temporary profit, has
tended to degrade, depopulate, and destroy the fairest countries in
creation. If the nutmeg and clove trees were allowed to grow where
Providence would seem to have ordained that in their natural course
they should, and this trade were opened to a free commerce, nutmegs
might perhaps be procured as cheap as betel-nut, and cloves as cheap as
pepper.
"In the Spice Islands," observes Adam Smith, "the Dutch are said to
burn all the spiceries which a fertile season produces beyond what
they expect to dispose of in Europe, with such a profit as they think
sufficient. In the islands where they have no settlements they give
a premium to those who collect the blossoms and green leaves of the
clove and nutmeg trees which naturally grow there, but which this
savage policy has now, it is said, completely exterminated. Even in the
islands where they have settlements, they have very much reduced, it
is said, the number of those trees. If the produce even of their own
islands was much greater than what suited their market, the natives,
they suspect, might find means to convey some part of it to other
nations; and the best way, they imagine, to secure their own monopoly,
is to take care that no more shall grow than what they themselves carry
to market. By different acts of oppression, they have reduced the
population of the Moluccas nearly to the number which is sufficient to
supply with fresh provisions and other necessaries of life, their own
insignificant garrisons, and such of their ships as occasionally come
there for a cargo of spices. Under the government of the Portuguese,
however, these islands are said to have been tolerably well peopled."
Had Dr. Smith written at the present day he might have heightened the
picture by observing, that so far from even being able to supply the
garrisons, these islands have long been considered incapable of raising
sufficient supplies for their own subsistence; they have for many years
depended almost entirely on Java for rice and the common necessaries of
life, and latterly supplies have been sent to them from Bengal.
[69] This general remark is not intended to apply to the traders of
Pinang (Prince of Wales' Island), who are in general well-informed and
most honourable in their dealings, possessing great experience in the
trade, and acquaintance with the habits and character of the natives:
but this establishment is comparatively of recent date, and the very
general view here taken has reference to the intercourse which has
subsisted during the last century.
[70] See an able report on the Eastern Islands, by R. T. Farquhar, Esq.
late Lieutenant-Governor of Prince of Wales' Island.
[71] GOLD.--From a calculation recently made, it appears that the
number of Chinese employed in the gold mines at Mentrada and other
places on the western side of Borneo, amounts to not less than
thirty-two thousand working men. When a mine affords no more than
four _bengkals_ (weighing about two dollars each, or something less
than a _tahil_) per man in the year, it is reckoned a losing concern,
and abandoned accordingly. Valuing the _bengkal_ at eighteen Spanish
dollars, which is a low rate of estimation, and supposing only four
_bengkals_ produced in the year by the labour of each man, the total
produce is 128,000 _bengkals_, worth 2,224,000 Spanish dollars, equal
to 556,000_l._, at the rate of five shillings the dollar. But it is
asserted, that upon the general run of the mines, seldom less than six
_bengkals_ per head has been obtained, and in very rainy seasons seven.
Taking the medium at six and a half _bengkals_, the 32,000 Chinese
will procure 208,000 _bengkals_, which at eighteen Spanish dollars
the _bengkal_ is 3,744,000 Spanish dollars, equal to 936,000_l._ Such
is the result of a very moderate calculation of the produce of these
mines. According to an estimate made in the year 1812, the annual
produce of the mines on the west coast of Borneo was estimated at
4,744,000 Spanish dollars, being an excess of a million sterling. The
quantity of gold procured on Sumatra, the supposed golden Chersonesus
of the ancients, is according to Mr. Marsden about 30,800 ounces,
which, at 4_l._ sterling the ounce, is worth 123,200_l._, equal to
492,800 Spanish dollars.
With respect to the disposal of the gold from the mines of Borneo, it
may be observed, that every native Chinese, whether employed in the
mines, in agriculture, as merchant or artificer, manages every year to
remit at least the value of one _tahil_, more or less, of gold to his
relations in China. These remittances are generally made by the junks
in gold, as it saves freight, is more easily smuggled on shore without
the notice of the rapacious Mandarin, and remitted over-land to the
residence of their families. Taking the Chinese male population who can
thus remit at double the number employed in the mines, and supposing
one half to be born in the country, most of whom may not remit to
China, this remittance would amount to 34,000 _bengkals_ or _tahils_,
which at eighteen Spanish dollars is 612,000 dollars, or 153,000_l._
It is calculated that, one year with another, at least five hundred
Chinese return in the junks to their native country with a competency.
Several have been known to take away one thousand _bengkals_ of gold,
many from three to five hundred, but very few return before they have
cleared a competency of two thousand dollars, or from one hundred to
one hundred and twenty _tahil_ of gold. This goes partly in gold;
though they prefer investing a part of it in tin from Banka, opium,
and other articles. Say, however, that they remit one half in gold,
five hundred men, at one thousand dollars each, will give five hundred
thousand dollars, which added to the small family remittances, accounts
for an amount exceeding one million of dollars, or 250,000_l._ This
calculation, however, seems to be far within the mark, and gives less
by one half than what is usually stated to be remitted to China from
the Bornean mines, which has been estimated at a loose guess at two
millions of dollars, or 500,000_l._
A further amount of not less than the value of a million of dollars
(250,000_l._) is supposed to find its way annually to Western India,
and principally to Bengal, _viâ_ Batavia, Malacca, and Pinang, for the
purchase of opium and piece goods. The surplus enriches Java and some
of the other islands, in exchange for salt, tobacco, coarse cloths, &c.
As the mines are worked with so little expence of machinery, the funds
necessary for commencing an undertaking of the kind are small; and
as the property of the soil belongs to the first occupant, almost
every Chinese would become a proprietor, but from the mode by which
their services are, in the first instance, secured by the council of
proprietors or kongsis. A parcel of half-starved Chinese, enchanted
with the prospect of wealth on the golden shores of Borneo, readily
find a passage in the annual junks that sail from the mother-country to
Borneo, at ten dollars a head. On their arrival, being unable to pay
the passage money, and the tax of a dollar per head, established by the
native authority, while their immediate wants of food, clothing, and
habitation, are urgent and imperious, the proprietors of the mines find
it easy to engage their services for three or four years. In some other
cases, agents are employed to obtain men from China, on stipulated
agreements, to work for a number of years; the usual rate of payment
to the miners so engaged is not considered to average less than five
Spanish dollars a month. No sooner, however, are these engagements
concluded with their masters, than a number of them club together with
the funds they have been able to save, and commence a new mine upon
their joint account, in a few years acquiring a competency to return to
their native country.
DIAMONDS.--There appears to be no just foundation for the idea, that
the diamonds of Borneo are inferior to those of Golconda. Many of an
inferior quality have no doubt found their way into the market, because
there was perhaps less skill and judgment in the selection; but the
value of diamonds here, as well as every where else, depends upon their
shape, size, and water, and in this respect the diamonds of Borneo will
bear a comparison with those of any country yet known. Indeed, as far
as we may judge from the present state of our information, the Lándak
mines alone are as productive, and its diamonds as precious, as any
other in the world.
The principal mines where diamonds are regularly dug for on Borneo,
and found in any considerable quantities, are those of Lándak, Sángau,
on the great river Lawi, and the districts of Bánjer-másin. Diamonds
have been occasionally found within the limits of Borneo Proper, at
Mátan and Sukadána. The mines of Lándak are as ancient as the Malayan
dominion on the islands, those of Sángau are of more recent date, and
those of Bánjer-másin are said to have been first discovered in the
reign of Sultan Sepoh, from whom the present sultan is the fourth in
descent.
Diamonds are not only found in the bottom of rivers when dry, but at
the foot of craggy hills and mountains. The _párits_, or mines, are
dug to the depth of from one to five fathoms only; but experience has
invariably proved, that the deeper they are dug, not only are the
diamonds more abundant, but superior in size, shape, and water. The
soil which produces diamonds is known from a species of earth called
by the natives _lábor_ or _lábor-gig'gi_. This is sometimes black,
sometimes white, red, orange, and green: it is a species of earth which
stains the clothes of the labourer, and is distinguished by many names.
At Lándak there are ten _párits_ worked by Chinese, and in each from
twenty to thirty labourers employed. As a general average, eight
Chinese are supposed to find about eight _bengkals_ of diamonds in a
year. From two to three hundred of the smallest sort are supposed to go
to a _bengkal_, valued at from twenty to twenty-four rupees. This is
independent of the larger ones, which are casual. So far back as the
year 1738, the Dutch annually exported from the produce of these mines,
diamonds to the value of from two to three hundred thousand dollars.
Few courts of Europe could perhaps boast of a more brilliant display
of diamonds than, in the prosperous times of the Dutch, was exhibited
by the ladies of Batavia, the principal and only mart yet opened for
the Bornean diamond mines, and whence those known in the European
world have been procured. With the decline of the Dutch government,
however, the demand has decreased, and the mines are now almost
neglected, the numerous diamond-cutters not being able to obtain a
livelihood. Formerly, when more Chinese were employed in the mines of
Lándak, diamonds from ten to thirteen carats were common in the public
markets. The Pangéran of Lándak now wears one of eighteen, and another
of fourteen carats and a half. Since Java has been in the possession
of the English, rough diamonds from Borneo have been sent to England,
and, even in a very unfavourable state of the market, turned out an
advantageous remittance.
Among the larger diamonds which these mines have produced, it may
not be uninteresting to mention, that the great diamond now in the
possession of the Sultan of Mátan, which has been seen and examined
by Europeans, weighs three hundred and sixty-seven carats: it is of
the shape of an egg indented on one side. It is, however, uncut; and,
on this account, it may be difficult to say, whether it will become
the largest cut diamond ever known; for the famous diamond of Aurung
Zebe, called the Mogul, in its rough state weighed seven hundred and
ninety-five carats, and was then valued at 600,000_l._, but when cut
was reduced to two hundred and seventy-nine carats. This celebrated
diamond, known by the name of the Mátan diamond, was discovered by a
dáyak, and claimed as a droit of royalty by the Sultan of the country,
Gúru-Láya; but was handed over to the Pangéran of Lándak, whose brother
having got possession of it, gave it as a bribe to the Sultan of
Súkadána, in order that he might be placed on the throne of Lándak:
the lawful prince, however, having fled to Bantam, by the aid of the
prince of that country and the Dutch, succeeded in regaining possession
of his district, and nearly destroyed Súkadána. It has remained as an
heir-loom in the family of these princes for four descents, and is
almost the only appendage of royalty now remaining.
[72] See Appendix B.
[73] See a paper on the Maritime Institutions of the Malayan Nation, in
the twelfth volume of the Asiatic Researches.