Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/632

604 JAVA coffee to the Netherlands was made in 1711-12; but it was not till after 1721 that the yearly exports reached any considerable amount. The aggregate quantity sold in the home market from 1711 to 1791 was 2,030,437 piculs (of 133 ft avoird.), and this must have represented nearly the whole production of the island. By the beginning of the 19th century the annual production was 120,000 piculs, and in spite of political interruptions this had increased by 1825 to 268,000 piculs. After the introduction of the Van den Bosch system a further augmentation was effected ; and from the official reports it appears that from 1840 to 1873 the amount has ranged from 769,000 to 1,234,000 piculs. During the ten years 1869-1878 the average annual produce of the Government plantations was 878,000, that of the private planters 156,000 piculs. In 1878 the actual quantity of Government coffee was 831,515 piculs, and it was estimated that the total number of full grown plants in the island was 14,180,000. The collecting ware houses were 367. Next in importance to the coffee plant is the sugar cane. Between 1853 and 1857 the average production of Java was 1,662,112 piculs ; between 1869 and 1873, 2,809,968; and between 1875 and 1880, 3,438,912 ; the corresponding numbers for Brazil being 1,683,200, 2,176,000 and 2,110,256. The largest harvest in any single year in Java during all that period was that of 1877, 3,721,984 piculs. The cultivation of tea, commenced by Du Bus, lias also attained a considerable development ; in 1879 the production amounted to upwards of 5,700,000 lb. The plantations are private enterprises on lands leased or granted as freehold by the Government. Most of them are in Batavia (Depart. Buitcnzorg) and the Preanger Regen cies. Cinchona is largely grown by the Government, and to some extent by the private planters, in 1879 the Government had 1,678,670 trees ; the production was about 115,000 Ib. Ten dis tinct varieties are in cultivation. Succiruba and Calisaya javanica preponderating. The tobacco plant is grown in nearly all the re sidencies, but most extensively in Kediri and Besuki. The produc tion for the foreign market amounted in 1879 to 7,050,000 It). 1 The cultivation of the great wealth-giving crops of Java has long been carried on in the interest of the Government, the native peasantry being obliged to devote so much of their soil and toil to satisfy the demands of their European masters. The system by which, in this regard, the relations of the Government to the native were for a long time determined is generally known as the "culture system." Introduced in 1830 by Van den Bosch, it continued in force till 1873, and has not altogether disappeared even yet. As far back as 1856 modifications of its arrangements were introduced by Duijmaer van Twist ; and the position of the native was further improved by Sloet van de Beele. The reforms were for a time re tarded by Governor Mijer ; but in 1870, under the colonial minister Waal, a new agrarian law was passed which permitted the cession of uncultivated ground to Europeans on a lease of seventy-five years. The principal object of the " culture system " was the coifee plant, and it is only gradually that the restrictions of the older regulation have been relaxed. In 1872 a new regulation was introduced into the Preanger Regencies ; in 1875 it was extended to the rest of the island with the exception of Pasurnan and the Tenger mountains ; and in 1877 it was made applicable in Pasuruan likewise. By this new system the large plantations at a distance from the abodes of the "culture" peasants are to be replaced by smaller plant a tions near the villages ; no service is demanded from those whose lands and gardens are below a definite minimum, and the people cannot be culled out for iield work en masse ; fifty coifee plants is the greatest number that any one can be called on to plant in a year. The general scope of the newer legislation is to leave as much as possible to private initiative, native and European, but it will be a long time before the leading strings can be altogether dropped. In the words of Mr Kestercn : "The Javanese knows no freedom. His whole existence is regulationcd. If he is bound to render culture -service, tlie administration shows him to what department to apply himself, when and how he must plant. If he is not bound to render culture -service, but has the position of a so-called free agriculturist, th,e administration prescribes the time and method of sowing and planting his land. If he wishes to fix his habitation outside his village, the village chief may pre vent him. If he has a dwelling of his own, the administration decides tor him what sort of materials he must use for the roof. If lie has a hanging night lamp in his bamboo hut, he must not hang it against the wall." It is not in the coifee plantations only that his service is demanded by the Government. In 1879 there were 2,030, 136 persons subject to the corvee ; and the actual days of work required were 32,197,561, the greatest number of days which can be exacted from any indivi- 1 In regard to coffee, sugar, cinchona, &c., see K. W. van Gorkom, De Ost-lndische Cultures in Betrekking tot Handel en Nijverheid, Amsterdam, 1881. dual being 52 per annum. To watch the Government warehouses, to escort prisoners, to keep the roads and bridges in repair, to give assistance to persons travelling in the public service, are some of the many tasks which the native is called on to perform. Mechanic Arts. In these the Javanese are in advance of the other peoples of the archipelago. Of thirty different crafts practised among them, the most important are those of the blacksmith or cutler, the carpenter, the kris-sheath-maker, the coppersmith, the goldsmith, and the potter. Their skill in the working of the metals is the more noteworthy as they have to import the raw materials. The most esteemed product of the blacksmith s skill is the kris ; every man and boy above the age of fourteen wears one at least as part of his ordinary dress, and men of rank two and sometimes four. In the finishing and adornment of the finer weapons no expense is spared ; and ancient krises of good workmanship sometimes fetch enormous prices. 2 The Javanese gold and silver work possesses con siderable beauty, but there is nothing equal to the filigree of Sumatra; the brass musieal instruments are of exceptional excellence. Both bricks and tiles are largely made, as well as a coarse unglazed pottery similar to that of Hindustan ; but all the finer wares are imported from China. Cotton spinning, weaving, and dyeing are carried on for the most part as purely domestic operations by the women. The usual mode of giving variety of colour is by weaving in stripes with a succession of different-coloured yarns, but another mode is to cover with melted wax or damar the part of the cloth not intended to receive the dye. This process is naturally a slow one, and has to be repeated according to the number of colours required. As a consequence the "battiks,"as the cloths thus treated are called, are in request by the wealthier classes. European imitations are easily detected, and do not pass muster ; but a more rapid process of battiking by means of hand stamps has begun to be employed both by native and Chinese workers. For tliii most part quiet, colours are preferred. To the Javanese of the present day the ancient buildings of the Hindu periods are the work of supernatural power. Except when employed by his European master he seldom builds anything more substantial than a bamboo or timber frame work ; but in the details of such erections he exhibits both skill and taste. When Europeans first came to the island they found native vessels of large size well entitled to the name of ships ; and, though shipbuilding proper is now carried on only under the direc tion of Europeans, boat-building is a very extensive native industry along the whole of the north coast the boats sometimes reaching a burden of 50 tons. The only one of the higher arts which the Javanese have carried to any degree of perfection is music ; and in regard to the value of their efforts in this direction Europeans differ greatly. The orchestra (gamclan) consists of wind, string, and percussion instruments, the latter being in preponderaucy to the other two. (Details on the instruments will be found in Kaffles, and a description of a perform ance in the Tour du Monde, 1880. ) In connexion with this attention may be called to the wayangs or puppet plays, in which grotesque figures of gilded leather are moved by the performer, who recites the appropriate speeches, and as occasion demands plays the part of chorus. At least one Javanese, Raden Saleh, has attained emi nence as a painter. Population. The data for tracing the increase of the population are far from satisfactory ; and the returns even of the present time can only be accepted as rough approxi mations. 3 Of the following tables the first gives the totals for Java and Madura for several years, and the second the details for the individual provinces at December 31, 1878, according to the Koloniacd Verslag of 1880. Europeans. Chinese. Arabs, Ac. j Natives. 18C8 18C9 28,46(i 29,139 167,020 172,280 15,712 16,850 15,265,931 16,010,114 1870 27,585 174,540 10,943 1(1,452,108 1871 28,003 181,732 19,955 16,891,068 1877 28,672 198,233 13,340 18,567,075 The reader will find drawings of a great variety of kris blades in Raffles, Jaiu, vol. i. 3 In 1781 Radermacher estimated the population of Java at 2,029,91 souls ; iu 1795 Nederburg gave it as at least three and a half millions, and Daendels in 1808-1811 as over 3,770,000. It was certainly not on the side of excess that these estimates erred. About 1815 the lirst real census of the population, carried out by Raffles, gave an nggre- gnte of 4,615,270 Java 4,390,661, and Madura 224,609 of whom 4 499 250 were natives. According to Bleeker s estimates (Tijdschr. v oor Nederl. Indie, 1847), the total about 1845 was 9,542,045, of whom 9.373,989 were natives. The only year since 1849 in which, according to the official returns, there has been a decrease in the popu lation is 1850, due to the famine and pestilence that prevailed in Demak and Grobogan. There appears to be about the same preponderance of male over female births in Java as in Europe.