"MANGOSTEENS!"
At several of the stations the natives offered fruit of different kinds, and nearly all new to our young friends. They had been told that they would probably find the mangosteen for sale along the road; they had inquired for it in Singapore, but it was not in season there, and now their thoughts were bent upon discovering it between Batavia and Buitenzorg. Two or three times they were disappointed when they asked for it; but finally, at one of the stations, when Fred pronounced the word "mangosteen,"a native held up a bunch of fruit and nodded. The Doctor looked at the bunch, and nodded likewise, and Fred speedily paid for the prize.
Perhaps we had best let Fred tell the story of the mangosteen, which he did in his first letter from Buitenzorg:
"We have found the prince of fruits, and its name is mangosteen. It is about the size of a pippin apple, and of a purple color—a very dark purple, too. The husk, or rind, is about half an inch thick, and contains a bitter juice, which is used in the preparation of dye; it stains the fingers like aniline ink, and is not easy to wash off. Nature has wisely provided this protection for the fruit; if it had no more covering than the ordinary skin of an apple, the birds would eat it all up as soon as it was ripe. If I were a bird, and had a bill that would open the mangosteen, I would eat nothing else as long as I could get at it.
"You cut this husk with a sharp knife right across the centre, and then you open it in two parts. Out comes a lump of pulp as white as snow, and about the size of a small peach. It is divided into sections like the interior of an orange, and there is a sort of star on the outside that tells you, before you cut the husk, exactly how many of these sections there are. Having got at the pulp, you proceed to take the lump into your mouth and eat it; and you will be too busy for the next quarter of a minute to say anything.
"Hip! hip! hurrah! It melts away in your mouth like an over-ripe peach or strawberry; it has a taste that is slightly acid—very slightly, too—but you can no more describe all the flavor of it than you can describe how a canary sings, or a violet smells. There is no other fruit I ever tasted that begins to compare with it, though I hesitate to admit that there is anything to surpass our American strawberry in its perfection, or the American peach. If you could get all the flavors of our best fruits in one, and then give that one the 'meltingness' of the mangosteen, perhaps you might equal it; but till you can do so, there is no use denying that the tropics have the prince of fruits.
"Everybody tells us we can eat all the mangosteens we wish to, without the slightest fear of ill results. Perhaps one might get weary of them in time, but at present we are unable to find enough of them. If anything would reconcile me to a permanent residence in the tropics, it would be the hope of always having plenty of mangosteens at my command.
"You may think," Fred added, "that I have taken a good deal of space for describing this fruit, but I assure you I have not occupied half what it deserves. And if you were here you would agree with me, and bewilling to give it all the space at your command—in and beyond your mouth. But be careful and have it fully ripe; green mangosteens are apt to produce colic, as Frank can tell you of his own knowledge."
VERANDA OF THE HOTEL BELLEVUE.
The train reached Buitenzorg, and deposited our three travellers at the station. They had been recommended to the Hotel Bellevue, and were soon whirling along the road to that establishment. It proved a sort of pocket edition of the hotel at Batavia, as it was scattered over a considerable area; and they had to go out-of-doors to pass from their rooms to the dining-hall, but they found it had a delightful situation, as it was on the slope of a hill overlooking a thickly-wooded valley.
VIEW FROM THE VERANDA AT BUITENZORG.
In describing the scene from the veranda in front of his rooms, Frank wrote as follows:
"Our vision sweeps an area of several miles, beginning with a valley, and ending with a high mountain that was once an active volcano. There are all the tropical trees imaginable in the valley before me. Without changing my position in my chair, I can see cocoa-palms with their clusters of fruit, betel-palms with tufts of green at the ends of tall trunks like flag-staffs, banana, bread-fruit, plantain, mangosteen, durian,and many other kinds of trees whose names I have not yet learned. It is the richest tropical scene that has yet come under my eyes.
A BAD ROAD.
"And, as if they were not rich enough in leafy decorations, the trees are adorned with numerous parasites, some in the form of creeping vines, and others in clusters and tufts springing from the crevices in the bark, where the winds and birds have deposited the seeds. Nourishment for these parasites come from the air, or from the trees to which they cling; sometimes the vines send down long threads which reach the ground, where they attach themselves and throw out roots. At a little distance they look like ropes, and you gaze at them in wonder. I have seen some of them more than fifty feet long, and about the size of my wrist; sometimes they are very thick and closely interlaced, so that it is no easy matter to ride or walk in a forest where they abound.
"As in Siam and Cochin China, the parasites frequently cause the death of the trees to which they cling; but the growth of trees is so rapid, and there is such an abundance of them, that nobody seems to have any sympathy for the victims in this matter of vegetable murder.
THE VANDA LOWII.
"Orchids are in great variety, and some of them are exceedingly beautiful. There is one known as the Vanda Lowii, which is described by Mr. Wallace in his account of the Malay Archipelago. It grows on the lower branches of trees, and its threads are often six or eight feet long, andstrung with flowers that vary in color from orange to red. These flowers are often three inches across, and their brilliancy is increased by the gloominess of the forests where they are found. Sometimes twenty or thirty flowers may be found on a single thread, and they form a regular spiral, as though strung there by hand.
"In other places you will see orchids like bright tufts of green clinging to the bark of the trees, and apparently forming a part of it. The botanists have found more than twenty varieties of this strange production of nature in Java alone, and probably a more careful examination will reveal many more.
"Some of the trees throw out shoots from their limbs, which ultimately take root and form separate trunks. The most notable example of this is the verengen: there is one of these trees in the governor's park, which has thrown out so many roots that it forms of itself quite a grove. It belongs, I presume, to the same family of tree as the famous banian of India, and to trees of other name but similar characteristics in other parts of the world.
"One of the most remarkable trees in the Malay Archipelago is said to begin its growth in mid-air. Can you guess how it does so?
A TREE GROWING IN MID-AIR.
"Originally the birds carry the seed of a certain parasite and drop it in the fork of a tall tree. The parasite throws out its branches into the air like other trees, and sends its roots downwards till they reach the ground. They spread as they descend, and form a sort of pyramid fifty or sixty feet high, and so shaped that you can often stand inside and have the body of the tree directly over your head. As the parasite grows it wraps itself around the parent tree, and ultimately kills it; and in this moist climate the dead trunk decays so rapidly that in a few years there is hardly a trace of it left. The branches of the new tree throw out roots of their own that go down to the ground and fasten themselves, and every year sees several new ones. We have no tree like this in theUnited States, at least none that I know of.
"There is a small river flowing through the valley in front of where I am writing; it comes from the mountains several miles away, and we can trace its course by the little openings it makes in the forest. For a few hundred yards we have it in full view, and then it makes a bend right at the foot of the hill where the hotel stands, and disappears among the tropical trees. Where it first comes into our range of vision there is a bridge thrown across it, and every little while, we can see the natives passing and repassing to and from a village that is concealed under the trees. Very often we see them bathing in the stream, or washing clothes there; when the bathers are a group of boys there is a great deal of fun and laughter, and the scene is quite as jolly when there is a lot of girls in the water. They can swim like ducks, and are constantly playing harmless little tricks on each other, and sometimes in the afternoon their laughter is steadily ringing in our ears. The Javanese Malays are a happy people, if I may judge by the inhabitants of this little village, and they are as fond of the water as so many beavers.
"Before we left Batavia we were told that we should have rain here every afternoon at three o'clock. Fred and I laughed at the suggestion, but the Doctor did not; and we found, on arriving, that we had laughed too soon. Really it rains every afternoon, and it does not vary twenty minutes either way from three o'clock. The clouds form over the mountain in the distance, and then they come sweeping on and on till they reach this spot. The rain comes down first in a sprinkle, then in a shower, and then in a pour, as though some great flood-gates in the sky had been opened as wide as possible, to give the water a chance. The rainlasts from one to three hours, and then the clouds go away and the sky is clear. Sometimes there is a chance for a promenade just about sunset, and sometimes not; in any event, the grass is so wet that we can only follow the roads if we would avoid coming home with our feet soaked.
"We have arranged our plans in such a way as to do our sight-seeing in the forenoon, and devote the afternoon to writing and sleeping.
GROUP OF BIRDS IN THE MALAY ARCHIPELAGO.
"We have visited the remarkable garden attached to the governor's residence, and seen the rare collection of specimens of the animal and vegetable life of the Malay Archipelago; and the more we see of it, the more do we wish to see. There are tigers and other animals, that it isbetter to see in cages than to meet at home in the forest; there are snakes in good variety; there are tanks containing a great number of fresh-water fishes; and last, but not least, there is a splendid collection of birds. I never knew what a variety of birds and what curious ones there are in the islands of the Java Sea, till I saw this collection here.
"You have heard of the birds of paradise, haven't you? They have some of them here, but not all the different kinds, as they are difficult to capture, and very difficult to keep alive after they have been taken.
"These birds are not natives of Java, but come from the Moluccas and other islands farther to the east. They were first called paradise birds by the writers of three hundred years ago, and some of the Portuguese and Dutch travellers told a good many fables about them. John Van Linschoten, who wrote in 1598, says that 'no one has seen these birds alive, for they live in the air, always turning towards the sun, and never lighting on the earth till they die; for they have neither feet nor wings, as may be seen by the birds carried to India, and sometimes to Holland.' More than a hundred years later, an English writer, who saw some specimens at Amboyna, was told that they came to Banda to eat nutmegs, by which they became intoxicated and fell down senseless.
"We were disappointed in the size of the birds in the governor's garden, as we had supposed that the bird of paradise was very large. But we found they were only moderate-sized, and resembled crows and ravens in their general appearance and habits, but not at all in their plumage. Instead of being of a solemn black, like their cousins I have mentioned, they have the most extraordinary arrangement of feathers that any bird can boast. Mr. Wallace says that several species have large tufts of delicate, bright-colored feathers springing from each side of the body beneath the wings, forming trains, or fans, or shields; and the middle feathers of the tail are often elongated into wires, twisted into fantastic shapes, or adorned with the most brilliant metallic tints. In another set of species these plumes spring from the head, the back, or the shoulders; while the intensity of color and of metallic lustre displayed by their plumage is not to be equalled by any other birds except, perhaps, the humming-birds, and is not surpassed by these.
"The largest of these birds is known as the Great Bird of Paradise, and is seventeen or eighteen inches from the point of the beak to the end of his tail. There is nothing remarkable about his body, wings, and tail, which are of a deep brown color, varying somewhat in shade, while the head and neck are of a pale yellow. The wonderful things are the plumes that spring from each side beneath the wings; they are sometimestwo feet long, and of a bright orange-color tinged with gold; and they can be raised and spread out at the pleasure of the owner like the tail of a peacock. When they are thus extended you can hardly see the body of the bird, as they seem to envelop it completely; and if you are hunting him, and ready for a shot, you must guess how much of what you see is bird and how much feathers. It is only the male bird that gets himself up so gorgeously; the female is a plain-looking creature, of a uniform brown color, without a bit of ornament anywhere. She might be mistaken for a crow that had been left overnight in a coffee-pot.
MAGNIFICENT BIRD OF PARADISE.
SUPERB BIRD OF PARADISE.
"Then there is the Red Bird of Paradise, which is somewhat smaller than the one I have just described, and comes from a small island off the coast of New Guinea. There is the Magnificent Bird of Paradise, from the main-land of New Guinea, which has a tuft or fan of yellow feathers springing from the back of his neck, and shading his shoulders; and his tail contains two long feathers, each curving outwards, so that it forms a circle. Fred said that these tail-feathers looked like the handles of a pair of scissors, and he wondered if the bird could be taken up by them. The Superb Bird of Paradise has a plumage of glossy black, and is not unlike a crow, so far as his body is concerned; but he has a remarkable shield on his breast of stiff, narrow feathers, very glossy, and of a bright tingeof bluish green. On his head he has another and larger shield, of a velvety black color, and tinged with purple and bronze. This shield is longer than the wings, and gives the bird a most extraordinary appearance.
SIX-SHAFTED BIRD OF PARADISE.
LONG-TAILED BIRD OF PARADISE.
"Mr. Wallace mentions no less than eighteen varieties of the birds of paradise. I have not time to describe all of them, and believe I have told you of those that are the most remarkable. All of them are very pretty, and would be a fine addition to a public or private museum. There is one known as the Six-shafted Bird of Paradise that has six little wires springing from the forehead, and extending over the body to the tip of the tail. These wires have little tufts at the ends, but for the rest of the way they are as bare as knitting-needles. There is another, called the Long-tailed Bird of Paradise, and it is partially described by its name, as its tail is very long, and of the most brilliant colors. Then it has a tuft of blue and green plumes springing from each side of the breast in such a way that when the bird is standing on a tree the position of the wings is entirely concealed.
"Perhaps you have heard enough about the birds of the Malay Archipelago for the present. The rain promises to be over in a little while, and we may be able to take a sunset walk. Of one thing we are certain: there will be no dust on the road, and the grass will be beautifully green."
For several days Frank and Fred, accompanied by the genial Doctor, made excursions in the neighborhood of Buitenzorg in the forenoon, and remained in-doors, during the rainy period, in the afternoon. A good many things came under their observation; they studied the agriculture in the region around the summer capital, and learned all they could about the manners and customs of the people. They investigated the peculiarities of the Dutch dominion over Java, and were much interested in the problem of governing seventeen millions of Asiatics with thirty thousand Europeans in such a way as to keep the millions perfectly content with the new rule, and enable a handsome amount of money to go every year from Java to the treasury of Holland.
The rainy afternoons were spent in reading, drawing, writing, and conversation; and the boys soon learned that the time in-doors was by no means without value. They formed an acquaintance with several gentlemen who were stopping at the hotel for the sake of the breezes, that were cooler than those of the sea-coast. Many of the foreign residents of Batavia are in the habit of going frequently to Buitenzorg, as a New Yorker goes to Saratoga; and this recreation is so much the fashion that several hotels do a very good business in providing for their wants. The Bellevue was one of the popular resorts, and it happened that there was quite a party of Batavians there at the same time as our friends.
While making notes of their visit to the governor's garden, the boys began drawing pictures of the elephant as he would appear when developed according to the theories of Doctor Darwin. Frank made the Yankee elephant with the traditional garments and jack-knife, and Fred followed it with a Chinese elephant peddling cigars from a small box. Frank designed the operatic elephant entertaining an audience with a song, and was immediately followed by Fred with the elephant in love,engaged in a serenade. Of course there was no allusion to Frank's frequent thoughts of somebody at home, and if any one entertained the idea he kept it to himself. The series was brought to a close by a delineation of the original elephant in two acts; but the designers neglected to state where this particular performance of the animal could be witnessed.
THE YANKEE ELEPHANT.
THE CHINESE ELEPHANT.
THE OPERATIC ELEPHANT.
THE ELEPHANT IN LOVE.
One of the first practical results of their afternoon work was the preparation of a brief description of Java, which was duly forwarded by mail to their friends. Both the boys contributed to its preparation, and each made a copy for his own use. Here is the story:
"Java is not of great extent. It is only six hundred miles long, and varies from sixty to one hundred and twenty in width: its area added to that of the island of Madura, which lies near it, is estimated at thirty-eight thousand geographical square miles. Its population is not far from seventeen millions; and when this is considered with relation to its extent, it will be seen that Java is one of the most densely-peopled countries in the world. That the country has prospered under the rule of the Dutch, is evident from the growth of the population, which was little more than five millions in 1826, nine millions in 1850, and is now at the figure just mentioned. If it goes on at this rate, doubling about every twenty-six years, there will come a time when it will be obliged to put out a placard announcing 'standing room only!'
"It is said that formerly the religion of the people of Java was Brahminical, and when Buddhism becamethe fashion of the East the new form was adopted. This continued till about four hundred years ago, when Mohammedanism was introduced, and it has remained to this day; so that the greater part of the population at present are Moslems. There are many traces of the former character of the people in the shape of monuments and ruins, some of them of great extent. In the eastern part of the island these remains are very abundant, and show that the ancient Javanese had great artistic skill.
ANCIENT BAS-RELIEF—JAVA.
"Few persons have any idea of the extent of these ruins, and their corresponding splendor. They are far more extensive than those of Central America, and some travellers think they surpass the temple ruins of India. In the centre of Java there is a mass of ruins where there were formerly twenty separate temples, and the largest of them is thought to have been ninety feet high. In another place there is a collection of no less than two hundred and ninety-six temples, all greatly ruined, but bearing evidence of a high class of art in their construction. Sculptured figures are abundant, and the walls of forts, temples, houses, baths, and aqueducts can be distinctly traced. It is a pity that the government does not pay some attention to these ruins, and save them from decay. At present they are left to the action of the elements, which is very rapid in this tropical land.
A MONSTER VOLCANO.
"Java is by no means a level island. There is a good deal of country sufficiently level for agricultural purposes, but the island has its full share of mountains,and no less than forty-six of them are volcanic. Twenty of the volcanoes are active, and one of them is the second largest in the world—that of Kilauea, in the Sandwich Islands, being the chief. It is known as the Tenger Mountain, and its crater is three miles in diameter, with a level bottom of sand, containing a dozen or more cones that are constantly smoking. The whole island is supposed to be of volcanic origin, and is subject to frequent earthquakes; so that the practice of building houses only one story high is a very sensible precaution. The island has a backbone of mountains, as the principal chain extends from one end of Java to the other. There is another small chain near the south coast; and all over the island there are hot springs maintained by the fires far down in the ground.
"We have already told of the trees and animals of Java, as well as some other things. We will come as soon as we can to the topic that interests us more than any other—the relations between the natives and the Dutch rulers. To do this intelligently, we must go back and see what the history of the island has been.
"Early in the seventeenth century the Dutch began to trade with thenative chiefs and people of Java, and obtained permission to build a fort and trading post near the present site of Batavia. In a little while they went to war with the natives; and by the end of the century had obtained considerable territory. From that time on they have had occasional difficulties, and each time when the war was ended the result has been that the position of the Dutch was strengthened.
"They had possession of the island till 1811, when England took it from them, and held it four years. Then it was given back to Holland by treaty, and has remained her peaceful possession ever since.
"The principal exports are coffee, sugar, rice, indigo, spices, tin, pepper, India-rubber, cinnamon, tea, camphor, rattans, and various other things; and the aggregate amount of the trade is very great. Down to the time of the restoration by the English, the expense of maintaining Java had been quite as great as the revenue from it; and it was this fact that made the English willing to give it up. If they had known that it would be made to yield a net revenue of five million dollars a year, over and above the expense of maintaining the local government, they would have thought twice before surrendering it.
"The genius of one man—General Johannes Van den Bosch, Governor-general and Commissary-general of the Dutch East Indies, from 1830 to 1834—brought about this result, and made Java the most profitable colony that any country has ever known.
"And he not only made it profitable to Holland, but prosperous for its inhabitants; while they enriched the rulers, they were themselves enriched. Anybody who has money may benefit the poor at his own expense, but it takes a man of genius to confer an equal benefit on the poor, and make something for himself or his employers out of the transaction. Such a man was General Van den Bosch.
PEASANT FARM-HOUSES.
"Down to 1830, the expenditure to maintain the Dutch government in Java was a steady burden on the treasury of Holland, as it was greater than the revenue from the island. General Van den Bosch was sent out in that year with plans of his own for making Java profitable; but there were many who considered him a visionary schemer, whose experiments were sure to result in disastrous failure. He proposed to offer liberal terms to the respectable Europeans in Java for cultivating the soil, and producing such things as were needed in Europe. He further proposed to make the peasants who lived on the government lands plant a certain portion of those lands with crops needed in Europe, and which the government would buy of them at a certain fixed rate. His scheme was shaped to cover the following principles:
"1. Profit to the peasant, to make the new system acceptable.
"2. Profit to the contractor, to induce its extension by private enterprise.
"3. A percentage to the officials, to secure their active support.
"4. Personal interest of the village community in its success, so as to secure careful cultivation.
"5. Improvement in the tax-payer's means, in order to increase the revenue and facilitate its payment.[3]
"The plan for making advances to the contractors was carried out by crediting each one with the money estimated necessary to start his manufactory; and he was expected to apply it under government supervision to the construction of his mill, and placing it in working order. It was loaned to him for twelve years, without interest; but he was expected to repay a tenth of it the third year, and a similar amount in each succeeding year till the whole amount was repaid. Many persons refused the proposal, but there were others who gladly accepted it, and went to work at once.
HOME OF A PROSPEROUS CONTRACTOR.
"It was further provided that the government would advance to thecontractor, at the beginning of every season, the money necessary to produce his crop; and this advance was to be repaid out of the crop when it was gathered. There were many details of the plan which would require too much space to describe, and they were varied from time to time in order to make them as practicable as possible. Besides—"
"Stop a moment," said Frank, when they had reached this point. "Don't you think we are making this part of our story a little too heavy? I am afraid Mary and Miss Effie, and the rest of the young folks in our families, may not enjoy it."
"Perhaps not," replied Fred; "but then, you know, the whole family is to read our letters, and I am sure the subject will be very interesting to my father, and to yours too. And I think you will find the younger folks will like it, because it will teach them something of what is called political economy. Every intelligent boy and girl in America wants to know about the science of government; the history of the colonial government of Java is very interesting to both of us, and I believe we had better assume that it will be equally so to persons of our age at home.So go ahead, if you please, and if anybody doesn't want to read what we have written, he may skip it."
Work was resumed without further discussion.
COFFEE-PLANTATION IN THE MOUNTAINS.
"Down to the time we are considering the chief product of the soil tilled by the Javanese peasants was rice. General Van den Bosch proposed to have them cultivate coffee, sugar, and other articles that commanded a ready sale in Europe; and, as the government would buy the crop at a certain fixed price on the spot, the peasant would have a market at his door, and feel certain that he would not be robbed by middle-men and commission merchants, as is too often the case in other countries besides Java. The price paid by government was sufficient to make a fair return for the labor employed in making the crop, and at the same time low enough to allow a handsome profit when it was sold in Holland."
"That explains something I have never before understood," said Fred, as he laid aside his pen for a moment.
"What is that?" Frank inquired.
"OLD GOVERNMENT JAVA."
"Why, we often read in the papers at home about the price of 'OldGovernment Java Coffee.' It is the coffee the government buys of the producer, and then sells in the market."
"Exactly so," Frank responded. "That bit of information will interest a good many boys in America."
"And men too," chimed in the Doctor, who was sitting in an arm-chair close at hand, and watching the clouds as they rolled over the mountain in the background of the view from the veranda.
"I want to know," said Frank, "how the enterprising general proposed to compel the people to work in the fields and cultivate the crops, when they might spend their time under the trees, and pluck the fruit when they needed it to supply their wants."
A JAVANESE CHIEF.
"Mr. Money says," answered Fred, "that the general made a careful study of the relations between the people and their native rulers. He found a patriarchal form of government, the villages being ruled by their chosen chiefs; several villages forming a sort of district, and several districts united into a province or principality. It was the policy of General Van den Bosch to take this organization as he found it; and, instead of over-throwing the native rulers, he would strengthen them, and make it for their interest, and that of their subjects, to be on friendly terms with the Dutch. This policy was adopted, and it is carried out to this day.
"Now, under the old system of government, before the Dutch came to Java, the peasant was required to give one-fifth of his labor gratuitously in return for the rent of the land, which was considered to be the property of the prince. When the Dutch captured a region, they claimed that they had captured the prince, and not the people, and that the revenues belonged to them as the conquerors. In some of the provinces the Dutch hold possession by treaty, and not by conquest; and the revenues continue to go to the prince as before. To develop the producing capacities of the country, they made an estimate of the quantity of any given article that each district ought to raise under proper management, and then they required the native ruler of the district to see that there was the proper production. Allowance was made for bad seasons, or other calamities; and if the production fell short, without any assignable cause, the ruler found his revenues cut off. The government bought the product, as we have already seen, and made its profit. The prince had his revenue and was happy, and the same was the case with the subordinate chiefs. The peasant was rewarded for his labor; and, as he had no more tax to pay than under the old system, he had nothing to complain of.
"The crown-lands, or those obtained by conquest, were the ones let out to contractors. They were generally on long leases, so that the contractor was encouraged to make improvements; and the result is that cultivation by private management has been greatly increased, and large fortunes have been made in many instances. The government takes its rental by receiving a share of the crops; and it watches over the relations between the lessee and his laborers, to see that neither practices any imposition on the other. Each must keep his agreement, under severe penalties, and the whole system is said to work very smoothly.
"The Dutch officials all over the island have no dealings with thenatives except through their own rulers. The native princes have the title of regents, and the authority of each is supreme in his district as long as he carries out the policy of the government. A Dutch resident or assistant-resident lives near each regent, and is considered to be his 'elder brother,' who advises the younger what to do. He frequently makes recommendations to the regent, though he never gives orders; but it is pretty clearly understood that he expects the recommendation to be adopted. The resident has a few subordinate Europeans, who go through the district at regular intervals, and visit every village it contains. They talk with the lower native rulers, examine the proceedings of the native courts, investigate the condition of the government plantations, hear the complaints of the people against their head men, or petty chiefs, and listen to any suggestions that are offered. Disputes are settled in the local courts without the intervention of a Dutch official; but in case of dissatisfaction they may be appealed to the district court, and, if not settled there, they may be carried to the highest courts of the island.
AN IMPROVED SUGAR ESTATE.
"There is a very efficient police system all through Java, and by means of it, added to the employment of the people in honest industry, the amount of crime has been enormously reduced in the past fifty years. Every man, woman, and child in Java is registered, and each village chief is made responsible to a certain extent for the conduct of his subjects. An offence against the law can be readily traced, and if the village or its chief are at fault, a fine is assessed upon them. Consequently everybodyin a village is directly interested in seeing that everybody else behaves properly.
"Well, to sum up the results of the Dutch system of culture in Java, we can say as follows:
"From being an expense to Holland, the island now yields an annual revenue of more than five millions of dollars to the royal treasury, after paying all the costs of the colonial rule. The expenses of the latter are by no means small, as the salaries of the officials are on a liberal scale. The Governor-general receives $100,000 a year, besides $60,000 additional for entertainments. It is said that the latter figure pays nearly all his expenses, so that he can, if he chooses, lay aside $100,000 a year for a rainy day. A Resident in a province receives $10,000, in addition to free rent of house and all surrounding buildings, and an allowance for extras. The subordinate officials are paid in proportion; so that nobody is obliged to rob the government or the people in order to make an honest living.
RETAINERS OF A JAVANESE REGENT.
"Crime and litigation have been so reduced that the sittings of the local courts do not average thirty days a year.
"Formerly there was much poverty and suffering in Java; now nearly every man, woman, and child appears to be well fed and clothed, and a beggar is a very rare sight.
"The import and export trade have been increased fourfold, in spite of the protective policy, which is the necessary attendant of the Java culture system.
"The population has more than trebled in sixty years, and promises to increase in the same ratio, unless interrupted by some great calamity.
"Those who have travelled in both Java and India say that the contrast in the conditions of the two countries is something enormous. In Java there is hardly any indication of poverty, and the public works are all in excellent shape; while in India the reverse is the case. Want and degradation are visible everywhere, and the traveller has daily and hourly appeals for charity. Famines are frequent in India, and in the year 1877 more than a million people died of starvation in Bengal and Madras. Famines are virtually unknown in Java, and in case of a general drought to cut off the crops, relief could be carried promptly to all parts of the island by means of the excellent roads that the Dutch have constructed.
"There is a great deal more that we might say, but it is getting near bed-time, and we will stop for the present. The wind sets our candle in a flicker, and it is 'guttering' in a way that threatens to extinguish it altogether. Good-night!"
"GOOD-NIGHT."
Bright and early the next morning the boys were out for a visit to a place where there was a spring of remarkably cold water. It was about two miles from Buitenzorg, and the road leading to it ran through a palm forest and among rice-fields. They had an opportunity to see the care with which the Javanese till their land. The hilly ground is laid out in terraces, one above another, and when the water has performed its work in one place, it goes to the terrace next below; thus it is made to do duty over and over again. There are large reservoirs where water can be stored in the wet season, and kept for the period when the rain-fall ceases. By close attention to the needs of the soil and the peculiarities of the climate, the Javanese are able to make their land extremely productive, and a failure of crops is a very rare occurrence. On much of the rice-land they grow two crops a year.
THE HOUSE AT THE SPRING.
The spring was of goodly size, and flowed into a pool fifty or sixty feet across. A house had been erected at one side of this pool, and was overshadowed by banana and cocoa trees; it had a lot of dressing-rooms, where the boys were not long in donning the proper costume for a bath. They shivered somewhat when they first entered the water; but the shock did not last long, and then they found the sensation was most delicious. The place was in charge of a Chinese, who demanded a most exorbitant price for the use of the bath and a few bananas and mangosteens that were ordered. When they offered a low sum, he bowed, and seemed to say that, if he could not have what he wanted, he would take what they offered, which was a good deal more than he deserved.
On their return they had a different view of the rice-fields, and Fred made note of the fact that when you look upwards on a lot of rice-fields you see nothing but a series of terraces, while, looking downwards, you seem to be gazing on a lake. While the water is on the flats, the ground is stirred with a harrow drawn by a pair of buffaloes; the rice is sown, and as soon as the plants are of the requisite height the surplus ones aretaken out and transplanted. The crop is then started, and the farmer has little to do till the time of harvest, beyond taking care that his fields have plenty of water. When the harvest is made, the paddy—as the uncleaned rice is called—is cut and taken to the mill.
Rice-mills are abundant in Java; some are run by steam, many by water, and many small ones by horses and buffaloes. The rice-mill is quite simple, and consists of a shaft like a ship's capstan and four projecting arms. Each arm has a wheel at the end, and as the shaft goes round the wheels revolve in a circular groove containing the rice to be cleaned. The wheel removes the husk, and when this is done a winnowing-mill separates the rice from the chaff or trash. This is the whole operation. The rice-mill of to-day is practically what it was a hundred years ago.
The Dutch have introduced farming implements of the European pattern on some of the estates, but the natives do not generally take kindly to the innovation. They prefer the old form of ploughs which have been in use from ancient days, and think that what was good for their fathers is good for them. Frank made a sketch of a primitive plough; it had a single handle, and its point could only scratch a furrow in the soil without turning it over.