rosy, as if the peaks towering above them were the snowy Alps, and not the fiery Merapi or Gedeh. Labor can be obtained at moderate rates, while excellent roads and bridges facilitate the conveyance of produce to market. Over a docile and industrious population they exercise a patriarchal sway, although they are invested with no magisterial authority, and a planter is obliged to have recourse to a native official if he wishes to punish a refractory coolie. This is sometimes cited as a grievance by European gentlemen, but it seems, in combination with other circumstances, to promote most satisfactory relations between the planters and those whom they employ. The Javanese are a solemn and silent race, even as children, and it is pleasant to see their faces light up at the approach of the master of the plantation, as he passes along with a kindly word or a smile, ready to give a patient hearing to any desirous of addressing him. Joyous cries of "Toean! toean!" (master) from the children furnish a tribute of popularity which is above suspicion; and upon one plantation, where we spent several pleasant days, even the absurd tameness of every sort of animal testifies to the rule of kindness governing the whole establishment.
But the amicable relations existing between masters and coolies are due, not only to the kindliness of individuals, but also to the peculiar position occupied by planters in Java. They compete with the government as producers of coffee, and are ready to pay good wages to free laborers; they are therefore the natural enemies of monopoly and forced labor, and deserve as such the title of "protectors of the poor," to which planters elsewhere can seldom lay claim. To the advice and influence of eminent Dutch planters are largely due the recent reforms introduced into the culture system of Java, and in particular the increased price now payable to the villagers for the government coffee. It has been made a ground of attack against the colonial policy of the Dutch, that they discourage the construction of railroads and the settlement within their territories of independent capitalists, who would develop the resources of the country but might interfere with existing monopolies. Restrictions as to strangers residing in Netherlands India have been, however, relaxed of late years, and in 1875 one hundred and twenty-eight Europeans, ninety-seven of whom were Netherlanders, received official permission to settle in the country. Only in the north-western provinces do private individuals hold estates in fee-simple, but in other parts the government will lease land to planters and settlers, and will relieve from compulsory gratuitous labor the people employed upon plantations. Coffee and sugar have been hitherto the most valuable products of Java, but the motto "In te spero" has been adopted by a firm of very successful tea-planters, who base their hope chiefly on obtaining for Java tea a higher reputation than it enjoys at present in the London market. Should they succeed in accomplishing this, the cultivation of tea would rapidly develop; but the general climate and soil of Java are favorable rather to quantity than to quality, especially as regards tea and tobacco, in marked contrast to Hindostan, where both these plants attain the highest excellence.
The peculiar form of the island, and the easy communication by sea between the great centres of population, render an elaborate railway system unnecessary in Java, either for military or commercial purposes. Railroads have been constructed, running from the principal ports on the northern coast, into the interior of the island, and linking Buitenzorg, the governor-general's country residence, with, Batavia, also Soerakarta and Djokjokarta, the capitals of the great native princes, with Samarang. These lines have been constructed with free labor by the Netherlands India Railway Company, to whom a concession has recently been made for very considerable extensions, with a state guarantee of five per cent. interest for forty years. At the same time the government have purchased the Batavia and Buitenzorg railway (about forty miles in length), paying five million guilders to the company. A State railway is in course of construction in the eastern districts of Java. Now it seems that the existing lines are precisely those most required for developing the resources of the island, and when the proposed extensions are completed the most important districts will all be brought into direct communication with the coast. At any rate, the revenues of the country have not hitherto been burdened with annual payments to European capitalists for large sums of money sunk in the construction of unprofitable railroads; Java pays tribute to Holland, but that tribute has not taken the form of guaranteed interest. Well-intentioned but ill-considered proposals for developing Asiatic resources by the aid of European capital have contrib-
