The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

[Vol I Pg i]

THE
HISTORY
OF
JAVA.

BY THE LATE

SIR THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES, F.R.S.

FORMERLY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR OF THAT ISLAND AND ITS DEPENDENCIES, AND PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES AT BATAVIA.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

SECOND EDITION.

LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.

MDCCCXXX.

[Vol I Pg ii]

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
ST. JOHN'S SQUARE, LONDON. [Vol I Pg iii]

TO
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE REGENT.

SIR,

The gracious permission which I have received to dedicate these volumes to your Royal Highness, affords me an opportunity of interesting your Royal Highness in favour of the amiable and ingenuous people whose country they describe. The high respect they entertain for British valour and justice, and the lively gratitude they retain for the generous system of British Legislation, will, I am sure, give them a strong claim upon your Royal Highness's good opinion.[Vol I Pg iv]

To uphold the weak, to put down lawless force, to lighten the chain of the slave, to sustain the honour of the British arms and British good faith; to promote the arts, sciences, and literature, to establish humane institutions, are duties of government which have been most conspicuously performed during your Royal Highness's regency. For a period of nearly five years, in which I have had the honour, as a servant of the East India Company, to preside over a mild and simple people, it has been my pride and my ambition to make known to them the justice and benevolence of my Prince, whose intentions towards them I could only fulfil by acting up to the principles of the Authority which I represented, and by doing every thing in my power to make them happy.

To those who judge that the right to express their sentiments requires no more than sincerity, or that their praise is of a value to overbalance the disrespect of offering it, I shall leave the usual language of dedications. Conscious that the assurances of respect and of loyal attach[Vol I Pg v]ment can never be offered to your Royal Highness by the humblest British subject, without meeting a gracious reception,

I have the honour to be,

With profound veneration and respect,

SIR,

YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS'S

Most faithful and most dutiful servant,

THOMAS STAMFORD RAFFLES.

London, June 1, 1817.
[Vol I Pg vi]

[Vol I Pg vii]

PREFACE

As it is possible that, in the many severe strictures passed, in the course of this work, upon the Dutch Administration in Java, some of the observations may, for want of a careful restriction in the words employed, appear to extend to the Dutch nation and character generally, I think it proper explicitly to declare, that such observations are intended exclusively to apply to the Colonial Government and its Officers. The orders of the Dutch Government in Holland to the Authorities at Batavia, as far as my information extends, breathe a spirit of liberality and benevolence; and I have reason to believe, that the tyranny and rapacity of its colonial officers, created no less indignation in Holland than in other countries of Europe.

For such, and all other inaccuracies, as well as for the defects of style and arrangement which may appear in this work, an apology is necessary; and in the circumstances under which it has been prepared, it is hoped that an admissible one will be found. While in the active discharge of the severe and responsible duties of an extensive government, it was not in my power to devote much time to the subject: the most that I could do, was to encourage the exertions of others, and to collect in a crude state such new or interesting matter as fell under my personal observation. I quitted Java in the month of March in last year: in the twelve months that have since elapsed, illness during the voyage to Europe and subsequently, added to the demands on my time arising out of my late office, and the duties of private friendship after an absence of many years, have made great encroachments; but engaged as I am in public life, and about to proceed to a distant quarter of the globe, I have been induced, by the interest which the subject of these volumes has excited, and the precarious state of my health, rather to rely on the indulgence of the public than on the attainment of leisure, for which I must wait certainly long and, possibly, in vain.

Most sincerely and deeply do I regret, that this task did not fall into hands more able to do it justice. There was one[1], dear to me in private friendship and esteem, who, had he lived, was of all men best calculated to have supplied those deficiencies which will be apparent in the very imperfect work now presented to the Public. From his profound acquaintance with eastern languages and Indian history, from the unceasing activity of his great talents, his other prodigious [Vol I Pg viii]acquirements, his extensive views, and his confident hope of illustrating national migrations from the scenes which he was approaching, much might have been expected; but just as he reached those shores on which he hoped to slake his ardent thirst for knowledge, he fell a victim to excessive exertion, deeply deplored by all, and by none more truly than myself.

My acknowledgments are due to the Right Honourable Sir Joseph Banks, Bart., the venerable President of the Royal Society, for his kindness and encouragement; and particularly so to Mr. Charles Wilkins, Librarian to the East-India Company, as well as to Mr. William Marsden, for many suggestions, of which I regret that I have not been enabled to avail myself so much as I could wish, in consequence of the haste with which the work has been got up. I am also indebted to Mr. Thomas Murdoch, not only for access to his valuable library, but for illustrations from Portuguese authors, which the reader will find in the Introduction and Appendix.

For all that relates to the Natural History of Java, I am indebted to the communications of Dr. Thomas Horsfield. Though sufficient for my purpose, it forms but a scanty portion of the result of his long and diligent researches on this subject. Of this, however, I am happy to say, that the Public will shortly be able to judge for themselves.[Vol I Pg ix]

In sketching the state of the Dutch East-India Company, and the measures adopted by the Dutch government respecting Java, subsequently to the year 1780, I have availed myself of much very valuable information communicated to me by Mr. H. W. Muntinghe, President of the Supreme Court of Justice at Batavia; and as, in the course of this work, I have often been obliged to condemn the principles and conduct of the Dutch colonists, I am anxious to acknowledge the distinguished merit of this excellent magistrate, and that of Mr. J. C. Cranssen, President of the Bench of Schepenen, both selected by the late Earl of Minto to be members of the British Council in Java.

The English came to Java as friends. Holland had ceased to be an independent nation, and for the time there could be but two parties, the one English, the other French. The emissaries of the late ruler of France had perverted the minds of the majority: many were doubtful on which side they should rally. At this critical juncture these two gentlemen declared for England and the ancient order of things; and to the influence of their decision and conduct is to be ascribed, not only the cordiality and good understanding which soon prevailed between the English and Dutch, but in a great measure also that general tranquillity of the country, without which the re-transfer[Vol I Pg x] of it to the rule of its former masters might have been impracticable.

Of the wisdom and benevolence which determined the late Earl of Minto to place two members of the Dutch nation at the Board of the British Council in Java, it is unnecessary to speak. The measure was in the same spirit which uniformly actuated that enlightened and virtuous statesman, my revered patron and ever lamented friend. The selection of the two gentlemen whom I have mentioned, was no less advantageous. To their countrymen it was peculiarly so, and I am happy to have this opportunity of publicly expressing my acknowledgments to them for the good counsel, firm support, and unwearied exertions, by which they were distinguished while members of the Board.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

The principles of Orthography, recommended by Sir William Jones, and adopted by the Asiatic Society at Calcutta, have been adopted in this work, with some slight modifications. The consonants preserve the same sounds generally as the same letters in the English alphabet: the vowels are used as in Italian. To avoid confusion, the emphatic syllables are alone accented, and the inherent vowel a has invariably been adopted.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Dr. J. C. Leyden, the bard of Tiviotdale, who accompanied the expedition to Batavia in 1811, and expired in my arms a few days after the landing of the troops.[Vol I Pg xi]

ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR.

In reprinting the History of Java in its present form, the Editor feels it necessary to say a few words. Though the first edition of this work has been honored with extraordinary success, and has long been exhausted, so that copies have become rare, yet Sir Stamford Raffles always considered it as a hasty production, requiring great alteration and improvement; and if it had pleased God to prolong his course of usefulness in this world, he would have bestowed upon it those corrections and additions which he thought it required.

The present Editor has only ventured to add a few short notes which she found prepared by Sir Stamford, and to omit, according to his intention, the larger part of the comparative vocabularies, retaining only a hundred words in each language.

The additional plates were prepared some years ago, for a second quarto edition: they are now published, with those belonging to the first edition, in a separate quarto volume, detached entirely from the present work.[Vol I Pg xii]

For the drawings from which the engravings of the antiquities are made, Sir Stamford was indebted to Lieut.-Colonel Baker, of the East India Company's service; and the present Editor is happy to have this opportunity of acknowledging the obligation, as well as her thanks, for many kind intentions to aid her in reprinting this history.

On the subject of the plates which originally accompanied the quarto edition, Sir Stamford stated in the Preface to that edition, p. ix, as follows: "The plates which accompany this work, not otherwise distinguished, are from the graver, and many of the designs from the pencil of Mr. William Daniell, who has devoted his undivided attention in forming a proper conception of his subject, and spared neither time nor exertion in the execution."

The Editor has only to add, that the size of the map of Java rendered it impossible to unite it with the present edition of the History, it is therefore added to the engravings; and it is also prepared for separate circulation.

SOPHIA RAFFLES.

High Wood,
Dec. 31, 1829.
[Vol I Pg xiii]

INTRODUCTION.

The first arrival of the Portuguese in the Eastern Islands was in the year 1510, when Alphonzo de Albuquerque first visited Sumatra. In the following year, Albuquerque conquered the city of Malacca, and sent to announce that event to those countries and islands which had traded thither, inviting them to continue their intercourse, and promising them protection and encouragement[2]. To Java and the Moluccas he sent Antonio de Abrew, having, however, previously prepared the way by a Moor or Mahomedan, of the name of Nakoda Ismael, who was trading in a merchant vessel. Antonio de Abrew sailed on his mission with three vessels, and took with him several Javans and Malayus who had been accustomed to trade with Malacca. The first port on Java at which he arrived was the city of Agacai[3], and from thence he sailed to Amboina, one of the Moluccas, where[4] he set up his padroes, or pillars of discovery and possession, as he had done at every port at which he had touched. One of the vessels was lost in a storm, but the people were saved and [Vol I Pg xiv]carried by Abrew to a port in Banda to which vessels then resorted for trade, and whither it was that the Javan vessels used to go for cloves, nutmegs, and mace, which were carried to that port by the natives of the Moluccas in their own vessels.

Nakoda Ismael returning from the Moluccas with a cargo of nutmegs, his vessel was wrecked on the coast of Java, near Tuban. The cargo of the Nakoda's vessel having been saved, Joam Lopez Alvrin was sent (A. D. 1513) by the governor of Malacca with four vessels to receive it. Alvrin was well received in all the ports of Java where he touched, but particularly at Sidayu belonging to Páteh Unrug, a prince who had been defeated at Malacca by Fernan Peres.

The straits of Sínga púra[5] being infested by the cruisers of the former king of Malacca, who had been expelled from his dominions by the Portuguese in 1511, the straits of Sában were the usual route of the Portuguese vessels from Malacca to the Spice Islands, and in this voyage they generally touched at the ports of Java.

About the year 1520 or 1521, Antonio de Britto, with six vessels under his command, bound to the Moluccas, touched first at Túban and proceeded afterwards to Agacai, where he remained seventeen days, during which time he sent a boat to the island of Madúra, for the purpose of exploring it; but the men landing incautiously were surprised and made prisoners, and were not ransomed without much difficulty, and the friendly intervention of the governor of Agacai.

Antonio de Britto had scarcely accomplished the ransom of his men, when he was joined by Don Garcia Henriquez with four vessels bound to Banda for spices, and at the same time a Javan vessel arrived from Banda. This vessel had been furnished with a pass from the Spaniards, under Fernan de Megalhaen, who having passed by the straits which bear[Vol I Pg xv] his name, had arrived at the Spice Islands. This was the first intelligence which the Portuguese received of Megalhaen's discovery of the route round the southern extremity of the American continent, and they were the more mortified at it, as he had left his own country in disgust, and was then in the service of Spain[6].[Vol I Pg xvi]

The first voyage made by the Dutch was in 1595, in which year their first fleet, under the command of Houtman (who [Vol I Pg xvii]had been previously employed by the Portuguese in the East India service), sailed direct to Bantam. At this period th[Vol I Pg xviii]e Portuguese were at war with the king of Bantam, to whom Houtman offered assistance, in return for which he obtained [Vol I Pg xix]permission to build a factory at Bantam, which was the first settlement formed by the Dutch in the East Indies.

[Vol I Pg xx]

Following the example of the Dutch, the English East India Company, immediately after their incorporation by [Vol I Pg xxi]Queen Elizabeth in 1601, fitted out a fleet of four ships, the command of which was entrusted to Captain Lancaster, who [Vol I Pg xxii]sailed from London in 1602, first to Acheen (Aché) on Sumatra, where he procured part of his cargo, and entered into a treaty with the king, of which a copy is yet in existence. From Acheen he went to Bantam, and settled a factory there, which was the first possession of the English in the East Indies. Captain Lancaster brought home a letter from the king of Bantam to Queen Elizabeth in 1602, which is still in the state paper office.

In 1610, the first Dutch governor general, Bolt, arrived at Bantam, and finding the situation of his countrymen in that province not favourable to the establishment of a permanent settlement, removed to Jákatra. On the 4th of March, 1621, the name of Batavia was conferred upon the new establishment of the Dutch in Jákatra, which from that period became the capital of their East Indian empire.

In 1683, the English, who had hitherto maintained a successful rivalry with the Dutch, withdrew their establishment from Bantam.

In the year 1811, Holland having become a province of [Vol I Pg xxiii]France, the French flag was hoisted at Batavia; and on the 11th September, in the same year, the British government was declared supreme on Java, by a proclamation of that date signed by the Earl of Minto, Governor General of Bengal. On the 17th of the same month, a capitulation was entered into, by which all the dependencies fell into the hands of Great Britain.

On the 13th August, 1814, a convention was entered into by viscount Castlereagh, on the part of his Britannic Majesty, restoring to the Dutch the whole of their former possessions in the Eastern Islands; and on the 19th August, 1816, the flag of the Netherlands was again hoisted at Batavia.

Without adverting to the political importance to Great Britain of the conquest of Java, or to the great commercial advantages which both countries might eventually have derived from its remaining in our hands, I shall merely notice that the loss of it was no immediate or positive evil to the Dutch. For many years prior to the British expedition, Holland had derived little or no advantage from the nominal sovereignty which she continued to exercise over its internal affairs. All trade and intercourse between Java and Europe was interrupted and nearly destroyed; it added nothing to the commercial wealth or the naval means of the mother country: the controul of the latter over the agents she employed had proportionally diminished; she continued to send out governors, counsellors, and commissioners, but she gained from their inquiries little information on the causes of her failure, and no aid from their exertions in improving her resources, or retarding the approach of ruin. The colony became a burden on the mother country instead of assisting her, and the Company which had so long governed it being ruined, threw the load of its debts and obligations on the rest of the nation.

It might have been some consolation for the loss of immediate profit, or the contraction of immediate debt, to know, that such unfavourable circumstances were merely temporary;[Vol I Pg xxiv] that they arose out of a state of political relations which affected internal improvement, and that the resources of the colony were progressively increasing, and would become available when peace or political changes should allow trade to flow in its former channels. Whether the Dutch could not indulge such prospects, or whether the system on which the internal government of their eastern dominion was conducted was in itself ruinous under any circumstances, a view of the financial and commercial state of Java before the conquest, and of the causes which led to the losses and dissolution of the Dutch East India Company, will assist the reader in determining.

In tracing these causes, it is hardly necessary to go further back than the period of the Company's history immediately preceding the war of 1780. The accidental calamities of that war brought it to the brink of ruin, and its importance in the past transactions of the country being borne in mind, a general concern existed in Holland for its preservation, and for the restoration and maintenance of its credit. With the view of affording it the most effective and beneficial assistance, inquiries were set on foot, not only to discover some temporary means of relief, but to provide a more permanent remedy for threatened decline. It is impossible to ascertain what might have been the result of the measures which were then in contemplation, as the convulsed state of Europe, and especially of Holland, subsequently to this period, left no room for their operation, and did not even admit of making the experiment of their efficiency. The free intercourse of the mother country with her colonies was interrupted; the trade was thrown into the hands of neutrals; several possessions were lost for the want of due protection, and those which remained were left to support or defend themselves in the best way they could, without any assistance or reinforcement from home.

For ten years preceding the year 1780, the average annual sales of the Company amounted to upwards of twenty millions[Vol I Pg xxv] of guilders, which was considerably more than in former years, and the prices of the different articles were nearly the same as they had been from the years 1648 to 1657, when the sales only amounted on an average to about eight millions a year; it was therefore clear, that the decline of the Company was not to be attributed to the decrease of trade.

On an examination of the Indian books, it was found, that from the year 1613 to 1696, the profits in India, though moderate, had always kept equal pace with the profits in Europe.

From 1613

To 1653.

To 1663.

To 1673.

To 1683.

To 1693.

Guilders.

Guilders.

Guilders.

Guilders.

Guilders.

The total profits were

101,704,417

142,663,776

206,072,335

259,250,969

322,735,312

Expences

76,177,755

117,616,961

161,271,745

212,282,020

274,416,306

Nett Profits

25,526,662

25,046,315

44,330,590

46,968,949

48,319,506

Thus, on an average of forty years till 1653, the annual profits were about

640,000

guilders a year;

Of fifty years

to 1663

about

500,000

do.

Of sixty do.

to 1673

750,000

do.

Of seventy do

to 1683

670,000

do.

Of eighty do

to 1693

600,000

do.

In the year 1696, the nett profit from the same year (1613) amounted to only 40,206,789 guilders, being full eight millions less than it had been in 1693, only three years preceding; and the average nett annual profit from 1613 was reduced to 484,371 guilders. But from 1697 to 1779, comprehending a like period of eighty-three years, the losses were so exorbitant as to overbalance and absorb, not only the contemporary, but all the preceding profits in Europe, and even a large amount[Vol I Pg xxvi] of fictitious profit stimulated to screen the government in India.

The nett amount of profits calculated from 1613, amounted

Guilders.

In 1697

to only

38,696,527

In 1703

31,674,645

In 1713

16,805,598

In 1723

4,838,925

In 1724

1,037,777

In 1730 there was already a total loss of 7,737,610, and in the year 1779 this loss amounted to 84,985,425.

The Company used to send yearly to India, before the commencement of the war of 1780, twenty ships of about nine hundred tons each, and eight or ten of about eight hundred tons each, which, to the number of twenty-two or twenty-three, returned with cargoes: four from China, three from Ceylon, three from Bengal, one from Coromandel, and twelve or thirteen from Batavia. They annually exported to India provisions and other articles of trade to the amount of two millions six or eight thousand florins, and in cash from four to six millions, and sold yearly to an amount generally of twenty or twenty-one millions; and it was estimated that the Indian trade maintained, directly and indirectly, all the external commerce of Holland, employing a capital of about two hundred and sixty millions of florins.

From the inquiries of a commission appointed by the government of Holland, in the year 1780, to ascertain the real state of the Company's finances, and to report how far the nation would be warranted in giving its further support to the credit of an institution which had so rapidly declined, it appeared that in 1789, the arrears of the Company amounted to seventy-four millions of florins, and that this amount had since increased to eighty-four or eighty-five millions, of which sum no less than 67,707,583 florins had been advanced by the nation.[Vol I Pg xxvii]

The Commissioners, however, being of opinion, that the affairs of the Company were not irretrievable, recommended a further loan of seven millions of florins.

A meritorious servant of the Company, Mr. C. Tetsingh, had offered to the Commissioners a memorial, in which he proposed that the Company should abandon the trade to private merchants under certain restrictions; but on this proposal the Commissioners stated that they were not then prepared to offer an opinion.

This Commission, in reporting upon the manner in which the Company's affairs had been managed in India, declared that "they could not conceal the deep impression which the same had made upon their minds, and that they could not fix their thoughts upon it, without being affected with sentiments of horror and detestation...." "When," said they, "we take a view of our chief possession and establishment, and when we attend to the real situation of the internal trade of India, the still increasing and exorbitant rate of the expenses, the incessant want of cash, the mass of paper money in circulation, the unrestrained peculations and faithlessness of many of the Company's servants, the consequent clandestine trade of foreign nations, the perfidy of the native princes, the weakness and connivance of the Indian government, the excessive expenses in the military department and for the public defence; in a word, when we take a view of all this collectively, we should almost despair of being able to fulfil our task, if some persons of great talents and ability among the directors had not stepped forward to devise means by which, if not to eradicate, at least to stop the further progress of corruption, and to prevent the total ruin of the Company."

The improvements proposed by the directors extended to every branch of the administration abroad. They proposed, first, with regard to the Cape of Good Hope, the yearly arrears of which settlement had latterly amounted to a million and a half of florins, that the same should be reduced to one[Vol I Pg xxviii] half of that sum. With regard to the further eastern possessions, the measures proposed for consideration were chiefly the following.

To confine the Company's future trade to opium, spices, pepper, Japan copper, tin, and sugar, as far as the European and Japan markets would require. To abandon the trade to Western India to the Company's servants and free merchants, under payment of a certain recognition. To abandon several factories in that quarter, and to reduce the rest to mere residencies. To make considerable reductions in the establishment on the coast of Malabar and in Bengal. To reduce the establishments on the coast of Coromandel to three factories. To abandon the establishments on the West coast of Sumatra, and to leave it open to a free trade. To diminish the expenses at Ceylon by a reduction of the military force, and by every other possible means to animate the cultivation and importation of rice into that settlement. To open a free trade and navigation to Bengal and Coromandel, under the superintendence of the Company, on paying a certain recognition. To encourage, by every means, the cultivation of rice in the easternmost possessions, and especially at Amboina and Banda, for the sake of preventing the inducements of a clandestine trade, which the importation of rice to those places might afford. To abandon several small factories to the eastward. To adopt a plan for the trade of Malacca proposed by Governor De Bruem. To introduce a general reduction of establishment at Batavia and elsewhere. To introduce new regulations with regard to the sale of opium at Batavia. To improve the Company's revenue, by a tax upon salaries and a duty upon collateral successions. And finally, to send out commissioners to India, with full powers to introduce a general reform in the administration.

In a memorial subsequently submitted by the Commissioners, which formed the basis of all the measures recommended and adopted at this time, for the better administration of affairs in India, after shewing that, from the year 1770 to[Vol I Pg xxix] 1780, the Company had on the whole of its trade and establishments on the coast of Coromandel, Bengal, Malabar, Surat, and the western coast of Sumatra, averaged a profit of only 119,554 florins a year, they recommended the introduction at Batavia of a public sale of the spices, Japan copper, and sugar, wanted for the consumption of Western India, and the establishment of a recognition of ten per cent. on the piece goods from Bengal, and of fifteen per cent. on the piece goods from Coromandel. Under such a plan of free trade, they calculated that, after the diminution of the Company's establishments in Western India, and the abolition of several small forts and factories to the eastward, it was highly probable that the administration in India would, in future, cover its own expenses, and thereby save the Company from utter ruin.

It was on these calculations that the Commissioners appointed by the States of Holland founded their hopes of the future relief of the Company, and with these prospects they closed their report, the care and future fate of the Company devolving from that time chiefly on the Commissioners appointed at their recommendation to proceed to India, in order to carry into effect, on the spot, the reforms proposed. Of these new Commissioners, Mr. Nederburg, then first advocate to the Company, was appointed the chief.

The Indian Commissioners sailed from Europe in the year 1791. At the Cape of Good Hope they made such changes and reforms as may be said to have fully effected the object of their commission. The importance, however, of the Cape being comparatively small, it is not necessary to enter into any detail of the measures adopted there. The more momentous part of their trust was undoubtedly to be discharged in India, where they arrived in 1793.

If the talents of these Commissioners were to be estimated by the benefits which resulted from their labours, we may safely pronounce them to have been incompetent to the task they had undertaken; but such a criterion cannot with any[Vol I Pg xxx] justice be applied. A continuance of peace with Great Britain was of course reckoned upon in all their calculations, and war with that power broke out almost immediately afterwards.

With regard to the abandonment of several forts and factories to the eastward, to which their attention had been particularly directed, the result of their deliberation and inquiry was, that the continuance of the Company's establishment on Celebes was indispensable for the protection of the Moluccas; that at Timor reductions had been made, in consequence of which the revenues covered the expenses; that after mature investigation the Japan trade was shewn to yield a nett profit of 200,000 florins; that with regard to the West Coast of Sumatra the revenues had been made to exceed the expenses, and the pepper collected in that neighbourhood left still some profit to the Company.

With respect to the institution of public sales at Batavia for Japan copper, spices, and sugar, on the introduction of which it was supposed the establishments in Western India might be for the most part reduced, they were of opinion, after deliberating with the Council of India, and after a personal inquiry into the actual state of the private trade at Batavia, that chiefly for the want of an adequate means among the purchasers such sales were entirely impracticable, and that it would therefore be preferable, after making some partial reductions in the expense, to continue the establishment in Bengal and the coast of Coromandel, but that Cochin on the Malabar coast might, perhaps, be advantageously abandoned[7].

To determine the mode in which the trade with India should in future be conducted, these Commissioners assumed a general calculation of the receipts and disbursements which would occur at home and abroad, on the supposition that the Company should, in future, navigate with hired vessels only,[Vol I Pg xxxi] and that all marine establishments should be abolished. The result of this calculation was in abstract as follows. The estimate may be considered as affording an interesting view of the hopes and prospects which were at that time entertained of the resources of the Eastern Islands.

The whole estimate was framed on the principles of monopoly, and with a view to an increase of the trade on the one hand, and a reduction of expenses on the other. The quantity of coffee stated at eighteen million pounds, was calculated upon the produce which might be expected after two years. In the calculation of the quantity of pepper, an augmentation of 1,500,000 pounds beyond the produce of the preceding year was anticipated, from the encouragement given to the growth of that article in Bantam and other parts of Java. With regard to the sugar, calculated at 8,000,000 of pounds for the home cargoes, it is stated, that the actual deliveries

From Batavia at that time amounted to

6,000,000

lbs.

From Chéribon

500,000

From other ports in Java

1,000,000

7,500,000

lbs.

Supposing therefore the home cargoes

8,000,000

lbs.

The demand for Surat

3,500,000

For Japan

900,000

For the consumption of the Company's own establishments

200,000

The quantity required would be

12,600,000

lbs.

Or 5,100,000 pounds more than the actual produce. The whole of that quantity, however, the Commissioners felt confident might be produced in three years, by encouraging the manufacture in the Eastern Districts of Java. Among the retrenchments was a tax upon the salaries of all civil servants, which reduced the average salary of each to the sum of fifteen Spanish dollars per month.[Vol I Pg xxxii]

ESTIMATED ACCOUNT

OF THE

COMPANY'S RECEIPTS

AND

DISBURSEMENTS AT HOME

AND IN

INDIA,

Exclusively of the direct Trade to China, upon the Plan of the Commissioners of Inquiry

, A. D. 1795.

RECEIPTS.

DISBURSEMENTS.

Florins.

Florins.

Public Duties

2,350,000

For the Surplus Expenses at the Cape of Good Hope

150,000

Freight on Company's vessels

50,000

For the same in Bengal

33,120

Additional public revenues

400,000

For the same at Surat

40,000

Profits on Trade in India:—

For the Military Expenses in India

2,571,314

Profit on opium

1,250,000

For Salaries to Civil Servants

1,000,000

Ditto on 12,880 pikuls tin, at 26 rix-dollars per pikul

228,000

For Ammunition, &c.,

100,000

Ditto on

5,000

lbs. Mace

43,000

For Fortifications and Repairs

400,000

Ditto on

15,000

lbs. Nutmegs

90,000

For Sloops and minor Vessel

200,000

Ditto on

120,000

lbs. Cloves

420,000

For Hospital Expenses

100,000

Ditto on

730,000

lbs. Japan Copper

292,000

On Account of Confiscations

18,000

Total on Spices and Copper

845,000

For Presents to Native Princes

32,000

At Surat:—

Interest on Sums lent in India

100,000

On Sugar

190,000

For Stores and Goods shipped in India

200,000

On Camphor

10,000

For eventual Losses

100,000

On Tin

18,000

For the Purchase of the Produce in India

4,519,400

218,000

For Insurance at five per cent. on the Money sent to India

212,700

In Japan, on divers Europe and Indian articles

76,000

For Freight on Returns of Homeward-bound Cargoes

3,300,000

2,617,000

Insurance and Risk of the Sea in India

200,000

And for Sundries at the coast of Coromandel

33,000

For Freight of Tonnage in India

699,030

2,650,000

For Freight for 2,320 Men, to complete the Military and Civil Establishment in India

219,240

For the produce of the Indian Returns in Europe:—

For the Passage home of 450 men

28,350

Coffee, 18,000,000 lbs., deduct Wastage, &c. is 16,000,000 lbs. at 8½ stivers per lb.

6,813,281

Bounty Money to 2,020 military men

303,000

Pepper, 3,765,000 lbs., deducting Wastage, &c. is 3,263,789 lbs. at 12 stivers per lb.

1,958,273

Premiums to 300 civil servants

60,000

Tin, 530,000 lbs. deducting Wastage, &c. is 490,913 lbs. at 40 florins per cwt.

196,365

Recognition to the Admiralty

360,000

[Vol I Pg xxxiii]

Cotton Yarn, 60,000 lbs., or nett 57,000 lbs., at 35 stivers per lb.

99,750

Contribution to the same

500,000

Indigo, 30,750 lbs. deducting Wastage, &c. is 27,645 lbs. at 80 stivers per lb.

110,580

Total Expenses of the Company's Establishments at home

1,000,000

Sugar, 8,000,000 lbs. deducting Wastage, &c. is 7,068,000 lbs. at 10 stivers per lb.

1,767,000

Yearly Interest to be paid

4,758,000

Saltpetre, 1,650,000 lbs. deducting Wastage, &c. is 1,285,350 lbs. at 30 florins per cwt. is

385,605

Dividends at 12½ per cent. to the Holders of Stock

831,000

Sappan Wood, 600,000 lbs. or nett 513,000 lbs. at 12 florins per cwt.

61,560

22,035,154

Cowries, 160,000 lbs. or nett 101,460 lbs. at 8 stivers per lb.

40,584

Balance

1,052,379

Camphor, 64,000 lbs. or nett 56,344 lbs. at 23 stivers per lb.

65,025

|

Cardamons, Java, 22,000 lbs. or nett 18,810 lbs. at 20 stivers per lb.

18,810

|

Tamarinds, 115,000 lbs.

43,700

|

Arrack, 140 leagers

46,000

|

Cinnamon, 400,000 lbs. at 5 florins per lb.

2,000,000

|

Cloves, 250,000 lbs. at 65 stivers per lb.

812,500

|

Mace, 110,000 lbs.

937,500

|

Nutmegs, 320,000 lbs.

561,000

|

Bengal Piece Goods

970,000

|

Surat do. do.

550,000

|

17,437,533

|

For Freight and Recognition on Private Trade

200,000

|

Total Florins

23,087,533

Total Florins

23,087,533

[Vol I Pg xxxiv]

These Commissioners seemed to entertain no very favourable ideas of the benefits which would arise to private trade from the license it already enjoyed. As a measure much more beneficial to the general trade of Europe and to the Company, they proposed, in lieu of it, to throw open to individuals, under certain restrictions, the trade and navigation from Europe to Bengal and Coromandel.

Thus we see these Commissioners sent out with the view of introducing something like free trade on Java, coming to a resolution to take away from it even the little private trade which it had previously been allowed to enjoy.

The Company's trade with continental India had already been so much encroached upon by foreigners, that it was judged expedient no longer to exclude the Dutch free trader from his share in the spoil; but it was hoped, by increased strictness, to preserve entire to the Company the exclusive trade in spices, Javan coffee, pepper as far as it was the produce of her own possessions, Japan copper, the opium which was consumed in Java and in the Moluccas, and Javan sugar.

The trade of the Dutch Company has thus been brought to the period, when its monopoly was proposed to be almost exclusively confined to Java and the Eastern Islands, including Japan. The causes which operated to destroy the Dutch influence on the continent of India, are too well known to require any particular description.

The Dutch had long maintained a decisive superiority, as well on the continent of Asia, as among the Indian islands, until the active exertions of their competitors in trade succeeded in undermining and overturning their monopoly; and as it was natural their weak side should suffer first, it was on the continent, where their establishments were far removed from the chief seat of government, and where they had not been able to insure to themselves those exclusive privileges from the princes of the country which they had exacted from the weaker princes of the Eastern Islands, that other nations,[Vol I Pg xxxv] chiefly the French and English, first endeavoured to introduce themselves.

After reciprocal jealousies had for some time prevented both nations from making any considerable progress, a successful war at last turned the scale entirely in favour of the English, whose influence, from that period, has been paramount in continental India, and the Dutch East India Company was no longer able to enforce its system of exclusive trade there.

Without inquiring into the practicability of realizing the flattering estimate made out by the Indian Commissioners, or the policy which dictated a still more rigorous monopoly of the produce of the Eastern Islands, it ought to be remarked, although it seems never to have been adverted to by the Commissioners, whose calculations and plans were exclusively of a commercial nature, that the original situation of the Company as a mere mercantile body, looking out for trade and not dominion, had undergone a material alteration, by the acquisition it had made from the middle of the last century of considerable territorial possessions, especially on the island of Java.

To use the words of one of the most enlightened men who now adorns his country, and is prepared to give energy to a better state of things[8], "these territorial acquisitions became to the Company a source of new relations. In consequence of them, new rights were acquired and obligations of a novel kind were contracted, as well with regard to the territories themselves as the population upon them. The nature of these rights and duties might have been deemed worth inquiry; and as all these territorial acquisitions were made by a delegated authority derived from the government at home, it was further worthy of investigation how far the government itself was entitled to a direct share in the acquisitions made, and how far it was bound to controul [Vol I Pg xxxvi]and superintend the exercise of those duties which were newly contracted. A consideration of these points would have led to the important question, how far, on a renewal of the Company's charter, it would be requisite to alter and modify its conditions according to existing circumstances, and especially how far it would have been expedient, in future, to leave the Company the exclusive trade, and at the same time the uncontrolled sovereignty over the same country."

But however natural it may be, at the present moment, to consider questions of this kind, it was perhaps at that time beyond the common course of human thought to entertain doubts on the subject. From an honourable regard for ancient institutions, the mercantile system of the Company was still considered with reverence and respect; it had been at all times the boast and pride of the nation; the services which the Company had rendered to the state in its earlier days, and the immense benefits which the government had been enabled, by its means, to spread among the community at large, had rendered the East India Company and all its privileges, objects of peculiar care and tenderness. The rights of sovereignty which the Company afterwards acquired, were obtained by degrees and almost imperceptibly. Every acquisition of the kind had been considered, at the time, merely as the means of increasing its mercantile profits, and all its territorial rights were looked upon as subservient to its mercantile system.

In consequence of these ideas, after the whole of the northern and eastern coast of Java had been added to the Company's territorial dominions, by a cession in the year 1749, no step seems to have been taken for improving these acquisitions, by any direct use of the supremacy obtained. Some contracts were instituted with the native chiefs, for delivering gratis, or at the lowest possible price, such articles as would serve the Company's investments at home; but[Vol I Pg xxxvii] taxation, the levy of produce, and the management of police and justice in the inferior courts, were left to the care and conscience of the natives themselves.

Arguments in favour of this system may perhaps be drawn from the respect due to the native usages and institutions, and from a supposed want of power, on the part of the Company, to assume any direct controul over the native population. But whatever influence these ideas may have had on the conduct of the Company, it may be affirmed that an European government, aiming only to see right and justice administered to every class of the population, might and ought to have maintained all the native usages and institutions, not inconsistent with those principles; and that the power, for want of which it withheld its interference, would have been supplied and confirmed by the act of exercising the power which it possessed, and by the resources it might have been the means of drawing from the country.

Considering, therefore, the propensity inherent in every native authority to abuse its influence, and to render it oppressive to the population at large; the ascendancy of Europeans in general, even over the class of native chieftains; the scantiness of many of the establishments proposed in the plan of the Indian Commissioners; the manifest inadequacy of the remuneration of the civil servants which it recommended, and the narrow scale on which all expenses were calculated; no very durable benefits could have been reasonably expected from it. The discretionary power being left in the hands of the native chieftains, the whole of the lower class of the population would have remained at their disposal; the ascendancy of the European servants would have subjected both to peculations, which the insufficiency of their salaries would constantly have tempted them to practice; the administration of justice not meeting with a proper remuneration would have been ineffectual, perhaps corrupt; the reduction of the[Vol I Pg xxxviii] military establishment would have left the possessions an easy prey to the first invader; and the original sources of the Company's revenues in India remaining the same, it seems probable, that in a short time, the same scenes which had hitherto met with so much reprobation, would have been acted over again, and to a still more disgraceful extent.

But of whatever merit might have been the plans suggested by the Commissioners in India on the 4th July, 1795, the calamities which had already befallen the mother country were followed by an event, which it seems the Commissioners had hardly dared to suspect, and which, in every case, would have frustrated all their designs. This was the dissolution of the Company, in consequence of a resolution taken to that effect on the 24th December, by the body then representing the government of the United States of Holland.

New views of policy were of course suggested by this important change. In the year 1800 there appeared a small volume, entitled "A Description of Java and of its principal Productions, shewing the Advantages to be derived therefrom under a better Administration, by Mr. Dirk Van Hogendorp," in which the writer, after observing that the true state of Java and its importance to the mother country had hitherto been little known, or at least that no correct ideas had yet been formed in Holland with regard to its value, fertility, population, and advantageous situation for trade, establishes,

"1. That the system on which the trade in India had hitherto been conducted and the possessions administered, was no longer good under present circumstances, but contained in itself the seeds of decline and ruin.

"2. That the exclusive trade was in its nature injurious, and naturally caused the ruin of the colonies.

"3. That under a different system, those colonies would flourish, and yield much greater advantages than ever.[Vol I Pg xxxix]

"4. That a revenue, founded on the principles of freedom of trade, property in the soil, and equality of imposts, could be easily introduced.

"5. And finally, that all the benefits which would thereby accrue to the mother country, from the territorial revenue, the duties on trade, the industry and wealth for which that trade would furnish employment, and the treasures which the distribution of produce throughout Europe must bring into the mother country, would greatly exceed the highest advantages that could be calculated upon, even under the most favourable prospects, by the means of the fallen Company or a continuation of its former system."

Many parts of this pamphlet abound in violence and invective, and others are too highly coloured; but with these exceptions, it may be safely asserted that it contains a more correct view of the state of society, and of the resources of the country, than any paper which had preceded it, and the author is most justly entitled to all the credit of having chalked out to his countrymen the road to honour and prosperity, in the future administration of the Dutch East-Indian colonies.

Having, in the course of the foregoing sketch of the decline and fall of the Dutch East-India Company, exhibited a statement of these resources, under the mercantile system of the Company, it may be interesting also to state what, in the opinion of Mr. Hogendorp, the island of Java alone was capable of affording eventually, under a system founded on the principles of property in the soil, freedom of cultivation and trade, and the impartial administration of justice according to equal rights. "When the exclusive and oppressive trade of the Company, the forced deliveries, the feudal services, in short, the whole system of feudal government, is done away with, and when the effects of this important revolution are felt in the certain increase of cultivation and trade, then," observes Mr. Hogendorp, "the limits of pro[Vol I Pg xl]bability will by no means be exceeded, in estimating the aggregate of the revenues of Java, in progress of time, at twelve millions of rix-dollars, or twenty-four millions of guilders, annually."

This statement, calculated with reference to the comparative produce of the West India Islands, has been generally considered by the colonists as exhibiting a very exaggerated view, of what the island could, under any circumstances, afford, and by many as too wild a speculation to deserve attention; but to this it should be added, that the plan on which it was founded, viz. an entire change in the internal management of the country, was considered as equally wild and romantic by those who declaimed the loudest against the possibility of these advantages accruing, and that notwithstanding the doubts then entertained of its practicability, that measure has been actually carried into effect, without producing any one of the consequences depicted by the advocates of the old system, and as far as a judgment can yet be formed, with all the advantages anticipated by Mr. Hogendorp.

It is not surprising to find, that the enlightened views of this writer were never acted upon, when we find it asserted by a commission, who sat at the Hague in 1803, composed of the highest, and perhaps best qualified persons in the state of Holland, and of which he was himself a member (of course a dissenting one), that "it appeared to them to have been admitted generally, and without contradiction, that according to ancient regulations, of which the first institution was lost even among the Javans themselves, the manner in which that people are used to live rests on principles, with which a free and unlimited disposition of the ground and its productions is absolutely inconsistent; that they were, for their parts, convinced that such a change could not be effected, without causing a general fermentation among all classes of people; that though, in this case, violent mea[Vol I Pg xli]sures might suppress an insurrection, they would rather advise to bid an eternal farewell to Java, than to resort to such means; that if they adverted to the question in a commercial point of view, the same uncertainty, the same dangers presented themselves. These arose from the natural disinclination of the Javan to work, which has been observed by many eminent persons; the danger of new monopolies, which would fall heavier upon the common people than the present forced deliveries; the exorbitant charges to support a great number of native chiefs and priests, who are at present provided for and ought to be supported; an undoubted deficiency in the revenues, and a considerable expenditure during the first years, without the probability of a remedy. All this," say they, "seems to forebode a neglect of the cultivation; and after long and laborious researches, we are compelled to lay it down as a general principle, that property, of the soil among the common Javans, and the abolition of public services, cannot be adopted as the basis of an improvement, of which the internal management of Java would be susceptible. The contingents and forced deliveries ought therefore to be continued and received on account of the state, which has succeeded to the prerogatives of the former Company[9]."

Marshal Daendels, who was recalled from the government of Java only a few months before the British conquest, and who was by far the most active and energetic governor who had for a long time been at the head of the colony, has written an account of his own administration, of the state in which he found the island, of the measures he proposed and executed, of the improvements which he projected or carried into effect, of the revenues that might be expected, and of the expenditure[Vol I Pg xlii] that the public service required. Although he enters into some free and bold strictures on the conduct of the Commissioners, the estimates they formed, and the policy they recommended, he does not seem himself to have avoided many of the faults which rendered their policy objectionable, or to have entertained any hope of establishing a more liberal system. Forced services and contingents, and all the tyranny which they render necessary, still constituted the greatest part of the ways and means of the colonial treasury, and the grand source of profits for the Company.

The difficulties he had to struggle with, and the peculiar habits and character formed by his profession, seem to have determined his proceedings, more than any matured scheme of general administration, or any deliberate principles of government. He thus describes the situation of the colony on his arrival: "A powerful enemy threatened us by sea, and the Javan princes, acquiring audacity in proportion as they saw proofs of our weakness, thought the moment had arrived for prescribing the law to their former superiors. The very existence of our dominions on Java was thus in the greatest danger. Our internal resources of finance were exhausted, while a stagnation of trade, caused by the blockade of our shores, cut off all hopes of procuring assistance from without. In the midst of such disastrous circumstances, and the failure of so many attempts to introduce reform, and to maintain the dignity of government, I found it necessary to place myself above the usual formalities, and to disregard every law, but that which enjoined the preservation of the colony entrusted to my management. The verbal order which I received, at my departure from Holland, had this for its object, and the approbation bestowed upon my attempts to carry it into execution, encouraged me in the course of proceeding which I had began."

The situation in which the Marshal found the colony is justly drawn; but the result of his operations, and the condi[Vol I Pg xliii]tion in which he left the government to his successor, are described in colours by far too flattering. His partiality for his own work, and the consciousness of having made great exertions to accomplish it, seems to have influenced his mind too easily, in convincing him of the advantage and success of the measures he had adopted. "In spite," says he, "of all the obstacles I encountered, I obtained the following results. I made the general government the centre of authority, from which every inferior authority descended in a determined proportion, with a definite responsibility and a salutary controul. Into all the local and subordinate administrations, clearness and simplicity were introduced; agriculture was encouraged, protected, and extended; general industry was promoted; the administration of justice and of the police was put on a sure footing; the means of defence were increased as much as possible; many works were undertaken, both for the service of government and other useful ends; new roads were made and old ones improved; the condition of all the inhabitants, as well native as European, was ameliorated, and every cause of misunderstanding removed; the relations of the colonial government with the courts of the native princes were regulated on principles, conformable to the dignity, and conducive to the interests of the former; and, in fine, the revenues of the colony were so augmented, that after every deduction for internal expenditure, they will furnish a surplus of five millions, free of all charge, as a nett return to Holland."

Marshal Daendels, in his memoir, sufficiently showed the fallacy contained in the report of the Commissioners, concerning the estimated revenue and profits of the Company. Instead of the receipt of 1,250,000 florins, accruing from the profit of the sale of opium (as marked in the table which I have transcribed), he assures us that not one farthing was actually obtained. Many of the conclusions of the Commissioners, concerning the temper of the inhabitants, the[Vol I Pg xliv] nature of the soil of particular districts, and the general resources of the island, he satisfactorily proved to be founded on erroneous information or mistake; and it is only to be regretted, that he did not carry the same spirit of impartiality into the formation of his own reports, which he requires in those of his predecessors, or anticipates from his successors, an examination equally rigorous, and a measure of justice equally strict as that to which they were subjected. Had this been the case, we should not have been offered such financial results as make the revenue of the island amount to 10,789,000 rix-dollars, and its expenditure only 5,790,000, leaving a balance of five millions of profit. It may be interesting to compare his estimate with the table already exhibited.[Vol I Pg xlv]

ESTIMATED RECEIPTS.

ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE.

Rix-dollars.

Rix-dollars.

Rent of land

2,000,000

Civil appointments

1,000,000

Produce of land unfarmed

500,000

Land forces

1,227,000

Sale of opium

[10]

1,120,000

Manufactory of powder, foundery of balls, and arsenals

180,000

Money

360,000

Hospitals

80,000

Coffee, 300,000 pikuls, at 20 rix-dollars

4,500,000

Marine

250,000

Pepper, 30,000 pikuls

160,000

Fortifications, &c.

200,000

Tin, 35,000 pikuls

400,000

New works

400,000

Japan Copper, 25,000 pikuls

250,000

Justice and police

150,000

Spices

1,000,000

Transports and freights

300,000

Forests

250,000

Transport of Company's servants, recruits, &c. from Europe

300,000

Sale of rice

250,000

Purchase of native articles

300,000

Package

100,000

Interest

400,000

Unforeseen charges

903,000

5,790,000

10,790,000

Which being subtracted from

10,790,000

Leaves a nett profit,

Rix-dollars

5,000,000

[Vol I Pg xlvi]

FOOTNOTES:

[2] Barros, Decada 3, chap. 6, book 3.

[3] Probably Grésik.

[4] Barros, Decada 3, book 5, chapter 6.

[5] Barros, Decada 3, book 5, chap. 7.

[6] The following is the description of Java from Jono de Barros, Decada 4, book 1, chap. 12.

"Before we treat of the expedition of Francisco de Sa, it is proper to state the occasion of the expedition, and how that was connected with the treaty of peace and friendship which, by order of Jorge de Albuquerque, governor of Malacca, Henriquez Lerne concluded with the King of Sunda, on account of the pepper produce in that kingdom.

"We must, therefore, first give an account of the voyage of Henriquez Lerne. The kingdom of Sunda being one of those of the island of Java, it will be best to begin with a general description of that island, that what follows may be understood.

"The land of Java we consider as two islands, whose position is from east to west, and nearly in the same parallel, in seven or eight degrees of south latitude. The total length of the two islands, according to the best authorities, is about one hundred and eighty leagues, although perhaps this is rather exaggerated.

"The Javans themselves do not divide the land into two islands, but consider the whole length as constituting only one; and on the west, where it approaches Sumatra, there is a channel of ten or twelve leagues wide, through which all the navigation of eastern and western India used to pass, previous to the founding of Malacca.

"A chain of very high mountains runs along the whole length of Java. Their distance from the northern coast is about twenty-five leagues. How far they are from the southern shore is not certainly known, though the natives say about as far as from the northern.

"Sunda, of which we are now to treat, is situated at about one-third of the total length of Java from the west end. The natives of Sunda consider themselves as separated from Java by a river, called Chiamo or Chenan, little known to our navigators; so that the natives, in dissecting Java, speak of it as separated by this river Chiamo from the island of Sunda on the west, and on the east by a strait from the island of Báli; as having Madura on the north, and on the south an undiscovered sea; and they think that whoever shall proceed beyond those straits, will be hurried away by strong currents, so as never to be able to return, and for this reason they never attempt to navigate it, in the same manner as the Moors on the eastern coast of Africa do not venture to pass the Cape of Currents."

The following is the substance of a note inserted in Jono de Barros, Decadas, p. 76-77, vol. 4, part 1st, 8vo. Lisbon 1777.

"The island of Java is divided into many kingdoms along the northern coast; and beginning to the eastward, those of which we have any account are—Paneruca, Ovalle, Agasai, Paniao (whose king resides in the interior, and has a supremacy over those just mentioned), Beredam, Sodaio, Tubam, Cajoam, Japara (the capital of this kingdom is called Cheronhama, three leagues from the sea coast, near to which Japara is situated), Damo, Margam, and Matarem.

"In the mountainous interior live a numerous class of chiefs, called Gunos: they are a savage race, and eat human flesh. The first inhabitants were Siamese, who about the year 800 of the Christian era, on their passage from Siam to Macassar were driven by a great storm on the island of Báli. Their junk being wrecked they escaped in their boat, and arrived at Java, until that period undiscovered; but which, on account of its size and fertility was immediately peopled by Passara, son of the king of Siam: and the city of Passaraan, called after his own name, was founded at a very good seaport, and this was the first settlement on the island.

"The Javans are proud, brave, and treacherous, and so vindictive, that for any slight offence (and they consider as the most unpardonable the touching their forehead with your hand) they declare amok to revenge it. They navigate much to every part of the Eastern Archipelago, and say that formerly they used to navigate the ocean as far as the island of Madagascar (St. Laurence).

"The city of Bintam, or Banta, which is in the middle of the opening of the straits of Sunda, stands in the centre of a large bay, which from point to point may be about three leagues wide, the bottom good, and the depth of water from two to six fathoms. A river of sufficient depth for junks and galleys, falls into this bay, and divides the town into two parts. On one side of the town there is a fort, built of sun-dried bricks: the walls are about seven palms thick, the bulwarks of wood, well furnished with artillery.

"The island of Sunda is more mountainous than Java. It has six good sea-ports: Chiamo, at the extremity of the island; Chacatara, or Caravam; Tangaram, Cheginde, Pandang, and Bintam, which have a great traffic, on account of the trade carried on, not only with Java, but with Malacca and Sumatra.

"The principal city of this kingdom is called Daro, situated a little towards the interior, and we are assured that when Henriquez Lerne first visited it, this town had upwards of fifty thousand inhabitants, and that the kingdom had upwards of one hundred thousand fighting men.

"The soil is very rich. An inferior gold, of six carats, is found. There is abundance of butcher's meat, game and provisions, and tamarinds which serve the natives for vinegar. The inhabitants are not very warlike, much addicted to their idolatries, and hate the Mahomedans, and particularly since they were conquered by the Sangue Páti Dama.

"Here four or five thousand slaves may be purchased, on account of the numerous population, and its being lawful for the father to sell the children. The women are handsome, and those of the nobles chaste, which is not the case with those of the lower classes. There are monasteries or convents for the women, into which the nobles put their daughters, when they cannot match them in marriage according to their wishes. The married women, when their husbands die, must, as a point of honour, die with them, and if they should be afraid of death they are put into the convents.

"The kingdom descends from father to son, and not from uncle to nephew, (son of the sister), as among the Malabars and other infidels in India.

"They are fond of rich arms, ornamented with gold and inlaid work. Their krises are gilt, and also the point of their lances. Many other particulars might be added (but we reserve them for our geography[11]), concerning the productions of this island, in which upwards of thirty thousand quintals of pepper are collected annually."

Decad. iv. Chapter 13.

"In the year 1522, Jorge Albuquerque, governor of Malacca, equipped a vessel to carry Henriquez Lerne, with a competent suite and certain presents, to the king Samiam above mentioned, for the purpose of establishing a commercial intercourse. Lerne was well received by the king, who was fully sensible of the importance of such a connection, in the war in which he was then engaged with the Moors (Mahomedans); and, therefore, he requested that, for the protection of the trade, the king of Portugal should erect a fortress, and that he would load as many ships as he chose with pepper, in return for such merchandise as the country required. And further, he (the king) obliged himself, as a pledge of his friendship, to give him annually a thousand bags of pepper, from the day on which the building of the fortress should commence.

"These things being concluded and presents exchanged, Lerne returned to Malacca, where he was well received by Albuquerque, who immediately communicated the result to the king of Portugal, who approved of all that had been done.

"Francisco de Sá was in consequence dispatched with six vessels (the names of which and of their commanders are enumerated), with which he called at Malacca, and accompanied the expedition against Bintam (then in the possession of the expelled king of Malacca), on leaving which he was overtaken by a dreadful storm, and one of his vessels, commanded by Dironte Coelho, reached the port of Calapa (where the fort was to be built), where she was driven on shore, and all the crew perished by the hands of the Moors (Mahomedans), who were then masters of the country, having a few days before taken the town from the native king, who had concluded the treaty with the King of Portugal, and given him the site on which to erect the fortress.

"But although the intended establishment on Java was thus frustrated, the Portuguese continued to have intercourse with that island, at which they frequently touched on their voyage to and from the Moluccas."

Decad. iv. Book i. Chapter 14.

"In August, 1626, Antonio de Britto, on his return from Ternati to Malacca, touched at the port of Paneruca, where he found his countryman, Jono de Moreno, who had twenty Malay junks under his command. From thence he proceeded to the town of Tagasam, whose inhabitants were at war with the Portuguese, and had captured a junk laden with cloves, which he had dispatched to Malacca, and they even attempted to take the vessel in which he himself was, which occasioned his quitting that place, having however first captured a junk laden with provisions."

Decad. iv. Book i. Chapter 17.

"In July, 1528, Don Garcia Henriquez appears to have touched at the port of Paneruca, (Panarukan) for the purpose of taking in provisions on his way to Malacca; and it also appears, that the king or chief of Paneruca sent ambassadors to the Portuguese governor of Malacca in the same year 1528."

The following is the substance of a description of Java from the Decada of Diego de Couto.—Decad. iv. Book iii. Chapter i.

Couto describes the wreck of a Portuguese vessel, and the destruction of her crew by the Moors, who had just become masters of the kingdom of Sunda, in nearly the same words as Barros. He then proceeds to state, that Francis de Sá ran before the storm along the coast of Java, and collected his scattered vessels in the port of Paneruca, and gives a general description of Java in nearly the following words.

"But it will be proper to give a concise description of this country, and to shew which were the Greater and the Lesser Java of Marco Polo, and clear up the confusion which has prevailed among modern geographers on this subject.

"The figure of the island of Java resembles a hog couched on its fore legs, with its snout to the channel of Balaberao, and its hind legs towards the mouth of the Straits of Sunda, which is much frequented by our ships. This island lies directly east and west; its length about one hundred and sixty, and its breadth about seventy leagues.

"The southern coast (hog's back) is not frequented by us, and its bays and ports are not known; but the northern coast (hog's belly) is much frequented, and has many good ports: and although there are many shoals, yet the channels and the anchorages are so well known, that but few disasters happen.

"There are many kingdoms along the maritime parts, some of them subordinate to the others; and beginning at the east (head of the hog), we will set down the names of such as are known: Ovalle, Paneruca, Agasai, Sodayo, Paniao (whose sovereign resides thirty leagues inland, and is a kind of emperor over these and others hereafter mentioned), Tabao, Berdoao, Cajoao, Japara (whose principal city or town is called Cerinhama, three leagues inland, while Japara is situated on the sea shore), Damo, Margao, Banta, Sunda, Andreguir (where there is much pepper, which is exported by a river called Jande). In the mountainous interior there are many kings, called Gunos; they live among rugged mountains, are savage and brutal, and many of them eat human flesh."

"These mountains are exceedingly high, and some of them emit flames like the island of Ternati. Every one of these kingdoms which we have named has a language of its own; yet they mutually understand each other, as we do the Spaniards and Galicians.

"The kingdom of Sunda is thriving and abundant; it lies between Java and Sumatra, having between it and the latter the Straits of Sunda. Many islands lie along the coast of this kingdom within the Straits, for nearly the space of forty leagues, which in the widest are about twenty-five, and in others only twelve leagues broad. Banta is about the middle distance. All the islands are well timbered, but have little water. A small one, called Macar, at the entrance of the Straits, is said to have much gold.

"The principal ports of the kingdom of Sunda are Banta, Aché, Chacatara (or, by another name, Caravao), to which every year resort about twenty Sommas, which are a kind of vessel belonging to Chienhec (Cochin China), out of the maritime provinces of China, to load pepper. For this kingdom produces eight thousand bahars, which are equal to thirty thousand quintals of pepper annually.

"Bantam is situated in six degrees of south latitude, in the middle of a fine bay, which is three leagues from point to point. The town in length, stretching landward, is eight hundred and fifty fathoms, and the seaport extends about four hundred. A river capable of admitting junks and galleys, flows through the middle of the town: a small branch of this river admits boats and small craft.

"There is a brick fort, the walls of which are seven palms thick, with wooden bulwarks, armed with two tiers of artillery. The anchorage is good; in some places a muddy, in others a sandy bottom, the depth from two to six fathoms.

"The King, Don John, conceiving that if he had a fortress in this situation he should be master of the Straits, and of all the pepper of those kingdoms, recommended it strongly to the lord admiral to have a fort built by Francisco de Sa; and even now it would be perhaps still more important as well for the purpose of defending the entrance against the English and the Turks, as for the general security of the trade and commerce of those parts, which is the principal value of India. And it was the opinion of our forefathers, that if the king possessed three fortresses, one in this situation, one on Acheen head, and one on the coast of Pegu, the navigation of the east would in a manner be locked by these keys, and the king would be lord of all its riches; and they gave many reasons in support of their opinions, which we forbear to repeat, and return to Java.

"The island of Java is abundantly furnished with every thing necessary to human life; so much so, that from it Malacca, Acheen, and other neighbouring countries, derive their supplies.

"The natives, who are called Jaos (Javans), are so proud that they think all mankind their inferiors; so that, if a Javan were passing along the street, and saw a native of any other country standing on any hillock or place raised higher than the ground on which he was walking, if such person did not immediately come down until he should have passed, the Javan would kill him, for he will permit no person to stand above him; nor would a Javan carry any weight or burthen on his head, even if they should threaten him with death.

"They are a brave and determined race of men, and for any slight offence will run amok to be revenged; and even if they are run through and through with a lance, they will advance until they close with their adversary.

"The men are expert navigators, in which they claim priority of all others; although many give the honour to the Chinese, insisting that they preceded the Javans. But it is certain that the Javans have sailed to the Cape of Good Hope, and have had intercourse with the island of Madagascar on the off side, where there are many people of a brown colour, and a mixed Javan race, who descend from them."

Then follows the refutation of a ridiculous story told by Nicolas Couti, the Venetian, about a tree that produced a rod of gold in its pith, at which some well informed Javans, of whom Couti inquired, laughed very heartily.

"Marco Polo mentions the greater and the lesser Java. We are of opinion, that the Java of which we are treating is the lesser, and that the island of Sumatra is the greater Java; for he says that the greater Java is two thousand miles in circumference, and that the north star is not visible, and that it has eight kingdoms, Taleh, Basma, Camara, Dragojao, Lambri Farafur, from which it is very clear that he means Sumatra, for it has nearly the dimensions which he assigns it. The north pole is not visible, as this island lies under the equinoctial line, which is not the case with any of the islands situated to the northward, on all of which the north star is seen: and it is still more evident from the names of the kingdoms, for there cannot be a doubt that Camara is the same as Camatra (the ç being soft like s). Dragojao (which is pronounced Dragojang) or Andreguir, and Lambri, still retain their names on that island."

[7] This is the factory which by the recent convention has been exchanged with England for the Island of Banka.

[8] Mr. Muntinghe.

[9] Report of a Committee appointed to investigate East India affairs made to the Government of the Batavian Republic, dated 31st of August 1803, consisting of Messrs. Murman, Sic, Ponloe, Verbuell, D. Van Hogendorp, Nederburgh, and Voute.

[10] In a note on this source of revenue, Marshal Daendels says that he is sensible of the evils arising from the use of this drug, but that the Javans are so addicted to it, that no prospect of success could be entertained from any project for reducing its consumption. Yet even while he is making this observation, he tells us that the Commissioners fixed the sale at 1,200 chests, and that he in his estimate has only taken it at 800. It was afterwards reduced to less than 300 chests, without any fear of disturbance or any danger of illicit trade.

[11] Barros often alludes to his Treatise on Geography, in which he had described particularly all the countries mentioned in his Decadas; but it never was published, having been left in an imperfect state at his death.[Vol I Pg xlvii]

CONTENTS
OF
VOLUME I.

PAGE

Dedication iii Preface vii Introduction xiii

CHAPTER I.

Geographical Situation of Java—Name—Extent and Form—Divisions—Harbours—Mountains and Volcanos—Rivers and Lakes—General appearance of the Country—Mineralogical Constitution—Seasons and Climate—Metals—Minerals—Soil—Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms

1

CHAPTER II.

Origin of the Natives—Javans compared with the Maláyus and Búgis—Comparative Progress of the three Races—Foreign Influence—Persons of the Natives—Manners—Population—Inequality of it accounted for—Population Tables—Increase of Population—Foreign Settlers—Chinese—Búgis—Maláyus—Moors—Arabs—Slaves—Gradations of rank among the Javans—Their Habitations, Dress, and Food

62

CHAPTER III.

Importance of Agriculture to Java—Soil—State of the Peasantry—Price of Rice—Subsistence of the Peasantry—Dwellings—Agricultural Stock—Implements of Farming—Seasons—Different kinds of Land—Rice Cultivation—Maize, &c.—Sugar—Coffee—Pepper—Indigo—Cotton—Tobacco—Tenure of landed Property

117

CHAPTER IV.

Manufactures—Handicrafts—Bricks—Thatch—Mats—Cotton Cloths—Dyes—Tanning—Ropes—Metals—Boat and Ship-building—Paper—Salt—Saltpetre Works—Gunpowder, &c.—Felling and transporting of Teak Timber—Fisheries

182[Vol I Pg xlviii]

CHAPTER V.

Commerce—Advantageous Situation of Java for Commercial Intercourse—Importance of Batavia in particular—Native Trade—Roads and Inland Carriage—Markets—Influence of the Chinese—Coasting Trade—Exports and Imports—Trade with the Archipelago—China—Kamtschatka—Western India—Europe, &c.—Dutch Commercial Regulations—State of the Eastern Islands—Advantages which they possess—Causes of the Depression of the Nations and Tribes which inhabit them—Japan Trade

210

CHAPTER VI.

Character of the Inhabitants of Java—Difference between the Súndas and the Javans—The Lower Orders—The Chiefs—Nature of the Native Government—Different Officers of State—Judicial Establishments and Institutions—Laws, and how administered—Police Institutions and Regulations—Military Establishments—Revenue

272

CHAPTER VII.

Ceremonies of the Court—Deference paid to superior Rank—Regalia—Processions—Pomp—Rank and Titles—Ambassadors—Ceremonies attending Births, Marriages, and Funerals—Account of the People called Kálang, and of the Inhabitants of the Téng'ger Mountains—The Bedui—Festivals—Amusements—The Drama—Wáyangs—The Dance—Tournaments—The Chase—Tiger Fights—Combat of Criminals with Tigers—Bull Fights, &c.—Games of Skill and Chance—Other Customs and Usages

343

CHAPTER VIII.

Language—Little known to Europeans—Different Languages or Dialects—Those of Súnda, Madúra, and Báli, compared with that of Java Proper—The polite Language, or Language of Honour—The Kawi, or Sacred and Classic Language—Numerals—Chandra Sangkala—Literature—Compositions in the Kawi Language, and in the modern Javan—Influence of Hindu Literature—Introduction of Arabic Literature—Poetry—The Brata Yudha, a Poem—Music—Painting—Sculpture—Architecture—Arithmetic—Astronomy

396

AN ACCOUNT

OF THE

ISLAND OF JAVA.

[Vol I Pg 1]

CHAPTER I.

Geographical Situation of Java—Name—Extent and Form—Divisions—Harbours—Mountains and Volcanos—Rivers and Lakes—General Appearance of the Country—Mineralogical Constitution—Seasons and Climate—Metals—Minerals—Soil—Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms.

The country known to Europeans under the name of Java, or Java Major, and to the natives under those of Tána (the land) Jáwa, or Núsa (the island) Jáwa, is one of the largest of what modern geographers call the Sunda Islands. It is sometimes considered one of the Malayan Islands, and forms a part of that division of the Oriental Archipelago which it has been lately proposed to designate as the Asiatic Isles. It extends eastward, with a slight deviation to the south, from 105° 11´ to 114° 33´ of longitude east of Greenwich, and lies between the latitudes 5° 52´ and 8° 46´ south. On the south and west it is washed by the Indian Ocean; on the north-west by a channel called the Straits of Súnda, which separates it from Sumatra, at a distance in one point of only fourteen miles; and on the south-east by the Straits of Báli, only two miles wide, which divide it from the island of that name. These islands, and others stretching eastward, form with Java a gentle curve of more than two thousand geographical miles, which with less regularity is continued from[Vol I Pg 2] Acheen to Pegu on one side, and from Tímor to Papúa, or New Guinea, on the other: they constitute on the west and south, as do Bánka, Bíliton, the great islands of Borneo and Celebes, and the Moluccas on the north, the barriers of the Javan Seas and the Malayan Archipelago. From the eastern peninsula of India, Java is distant about one hundred and forty leagues, from Borneo about fifty-six, and from New Holland two hundred.

To what cause the island is indebted for its present name of Java[12] (or Jáwa as it is pronounced by the natives) is uncertain. Among the traditions of the country (which are more particularly mentioned in another place) there is one, which relates, that it was so termed by the first colonists from the continent of India, in consequence of the discovery of a certain grain, called jáwa-wut,[13] on which the inhabitants are supposed to have subsisted at that early period, and that it had been known previously only under the term of Núsa hára-hára or Núsa kêndang, meaning the island of wild uncultivated waste, or in which the hills run in ridges.

In the tenth chapter of Genesis we are told, that "the isles of the Gentiles were divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in the nations:" and in the twenty-seventh chapter of Ezekiel we find among the rich merchants, those of Javan "who traded the persons of men, and vessels of brass, to the market of Tyre, and who going to and fro, occupied in her fairs, brought bright iron, cassia, and calamus." But we shall leave it to others to trace the connection between the Javan of Holy Writ and the Java of modern times. It appears, that the Arabs, who had widely extended their commercial intercourse, and established their [Vol I Pg 3]religious faith over the greatest portion of the Indian Archipelago, long before the Europeans had navigated round the Cape of Good Hope, designate the whole of the nations and tribes which inhabit those regions by the general term of the people of Jawi, as in the following passage taken from one of their religious tracts:—"The people of Jawi do not observe with strictness the rule laid down for keeping the fast, inasmuch as they eat before the sun sets, while the Arabs continue the fast until that luminary has sunk below the horizon." Jawa or Jawi is also the name by which Borneo, Java, Sumatra, the Malayan Peninsula, and the islands lying amongst them, are known among the nations of Celebes, who apply the Búgis diminutive Jawa-Jawáka, or Java minor, to the Moluccas, Ámbon, Bánda, Tímor, and Éndé. Jabadios Insulæ, from Jaba, and dib, div or dio, has been employed in the largest sense by Europeans, and it is probable this was once generally the case among the Asiatics, with the terms Java, Jawa, Jawi, and Jaba,[14] which, as the appellations of [Vol I Pg 4]people inhabiting the countries beyond the continent or distant, some have derived from the word jaù, of very general acceptation in eastern languages, and meaning beyond, distant.[15]

It is, perhaps, in consequence of these names having embraced the whole, or at least several of the islands collectively, that the accounts given by Marco Polo, and other early European voyagers, of particular islands, as Java Major and Java Minor, are so inconsistent with one another. The country described by Marco Polo as Java Minor, seems, beyond doubt, to have been the eastern coast of Sumatra; but that expression, "or Little Java," is now applied exclusively to Báli, as "Great Java" is to the island we are now describing. It is on the latter only, if we except what has been observed of the names given to the Archipelago generally by the natives of Celebes, that the islanders themselves apply the name of Jawa, in any of its forms, to their own country. It has there even a still more confined application, being generally limited to the eastern districts of the island, which may be considered as Java proper, in contra-distinction to the western districts, which are for the most part inhabited by a people called Súnda, from whom the Straits and Isles of Sunda have been named by Europeans.

Whether Sumatra, Java, or any other island of the Archipelago, or the whole or several of them collectively, may not have formed the Taprobane of the ancients, is perhaps still an undecided question, notwithstanding the claims to this distinction which have of late years been rather admitted than proved in favour of Ceylon. The most striking fact detailed in the accounts which have reached us of this ancient country, and one which, from its nature, is least likely to have been[Vol I Pg 5] disfigured or perverted by the misrepresentations or prejudices of travellers, is, that it was bisected in nearly equal portions by the equinoctial line, and that to the southward of it the polar star was not visible. How can this statement be evaded, or in any way applied to Ceylon? Major Wilford seems inclined to consider Taprobane as derived from the Sanscrit words tapa (penance) and vana (forest or grove), a derivation equally favorable to the claims of the Javans, tapa and wana, or wono, having the like signification in their language; and if, as there is reason to believe, an extensive intercourse subsisted in very remote times between Western India and these islands, where was there a country that could more invite the retreat of holy men, than the evergreen islands which rise in endless clusters on the smooth seas of the Malayan Archipelago, where the elevation and tranquillity of devotion are fostered by all that is majestic and lovely in nature?

Although in Sumatra no traces of their residence have yet been discovered, except in the language and customs of the people; on Java, which is almost contiguous to it, it is abundantly attested by monuments still existing in stone and brass. In few countries, with which we are yet acquainted, are more extensive ruins to be found of temples dedicated to an ancient worship. If tradition may be trusted, every mountain had its tapa, or recluse, and the whole energies and resources of the country would appear to have been applied to the construction of those noble edifices, the ruins of which still strike the spectator with astonishment and veneration.

That these splendid and magnificent piles were erected under the superintendance of a foreign people, more skilled in the arts than the rude and simple natives of the islands, can scarcely be doubted; and that they were sacred to the rites of the Hindu religion, according to some persuasion or other, is equally clear, from the numerous images of deities and attributes by which they are adorned, many of which are still preserved in their original state. Further investigation may perhaps establish Java and Sumatra, or rather the Malayan ports (in which general term we may include all the islands containing the Malayan Ports) as not only the Taprobane or Tapavana of the ancients, but also the Sacred Isles of the Hindus.[Vol I Pg 6]

The map of Java which accompanies this work has been drawn principally from actual surveys, many of which were made by order of the British Government on the island. The first map of Java which was presented to the public, and from which nearly all those, which have subsequently been engraved, are copies, was published by Valentyn,[16] and consists of seven sheets. As, at that period, little more was known of the island by the Dutch than some parts of the coast, the country in the immediate vicinity of their capital, with perhaps the province of Bantam, the author had no materials for making a map of the whole island, which could pretend to much authority or value. Most of the land in the immediate vicinity of Batavia having been sold to Europeans, was of necessity surveyed, in order to ascertain the different boundaries; but it was only a short time before the arrival of Marshal Daendels, in 1808, that any steps appear to have been taken by the local authorities, to procure correct statistical and topographical information of the other more important districts of the island. Something to this effect was done during the administration of Mr. Engelhard, late Governor of the North-east Coast, but it was only during the government of the Marshal that these objects were pursued with much energy or success.

At the period of the arrival of the English, topographical surveys of Semárang and several of the eastern districts had been completed; and although somewhat deficient in accuracy of measurement and neatness of execution, yet as they appeared sufficiently correct for many valuable purposes, and as the Government was anxious to obtain, without loss of time, a better acquaintance with the geography of the country, it was determined to make some sacrifice of accuracy to the considerations of economy and expedition, and to survey the other districts upon the same plan. While these surveys were in progress, the territorial interest which the European government obtained in the central provinces, induced them to turn their attention to the improvements of which the Solo River might be susceptible. This river, the most considerable in[Vol I Pg 7] the island, passes through Súra-kérta, the capital of the Susuhúnan, or (as he is termed by Europeans) Emperor of Java, and discharges itself into the sea near Grésik. An actual survey was accordingly made by a British officer of experience, particularly instructed to ascertain how far it might be practicable to improve its navigation by the aid of artificial cuts and dams.

A greater object soon called for more extensive measures. When it was determined to introduce an entirely new system of internal management, by the abolition of feudal service, and the establishment of a more permanent property in the soil, it was deemed essential that a detailed survey should be made of the different districts successively, in which the new system was to be introduced. This was intended to form the basis of a general agricultural survey of the country, then about to be made. In several of these districts this detailed survey has been completed; and, with the exception of the provinces still under native jurisdiction, and called Native Provinces, nearly the whole of the land on Java, not in a state of absolute forest, has been measured with more or less accuracy. Of the native provinces but a very small part has been actually surveyed; with regard to the rest, the materials from which the present map is taken, were principally obtained from observation made during occasional routes through them. The southern division of Bantam being principally forest, has not been actually surveyed; neither has the island of Madura been yet surveyed by Europeans: the eastern part of it was measured by the natives, and it was principally upon their authority that the map now presented of that island was drawn. The best charts of both the north and south coast have been consulted. The three harbours of Wyn Coops Bay, Cheláchap, and Pachítan, on the latter, are laid down from actual survey, as well as the entrance to the harbour of Surabáya. On the whole, therefore, although the map now engraved is far from perfect, and of course suffers from the reduction necessary to adapt it to the rest of the work, it is presumed that it will aid the reader in most of the geographical objects to which this volume will refer, and that its superiority over those that have previously appeared is such as to justify its publication.[Vol I Pg 8]

The length of Java, in a straight line drawn between its extreme points, (Java Head, and the south-east point of the island) is five hundred and seventy-five geographical, equal to six hundred and sixty-six statute miles: its breadth varies from one hundred and seventeen geographical, or one hundred and thirty-five and a half statute miles (between the south-west point of Pachítan bay and the north point of Japára) to forty-eight geographical or fifty-six statute miles, (between the mouth of the Seráyu river and the Marabáya, five degrees east of Tegál);[17] and it is estimated to contain an area of about fifty thousand statute miles.

Numerous small islands are scattered in its immediate vicinity, particularly along the northern coast, and contribute, with the projecting points and headlands inclosing the different bays, to form harbours of various capacities. The most important of these islands is that of Madúra, which is separated from the main land of Java by a strait in one part not more than a mile broad, and serves to form the important harbour of Surabáya. This island has the appearance of being a continuation of the main land of Java, and having been long subjected to the same political authority, has generally formed one of the provinces of the Javan empire. In length Madúra is about seventy-nine geographical, or ninety-one and a half statute miles; and its narrowest part is about twenty-seven geographical, or thirty-one and a quarter statute miles. The small islands lying to the east of it are considered as its dependencies.

The form of Java is chiefly remarkable for the rectangularity of its outline, which is such that the island might be divided into five or six parts, each a rectangular parallelogram drawn by an unsteady hand. Its western and northern coasts abound with bays and inlets. The outline of Madúra is more regular, especially on the northern coast.

The coast from Bantam to the river Chi-mánok, about two degrees in length on the north, is nearly parallel to that which extends from Wyn Coops Bay to a point about twenty miles[Vol I Pg 9] west of Núsa kambúng'an, the breadth throughout being about seventy-eight geographical miles; and from the same point to the river Manchíngan, a distance of about one degree and three-quarters, the coast is nearly parallel to that which lies between Chéribon and Semárang, the breadth throughout being about fifty-seven geographical miles. From the west point of Japára to point Pángka on the north, distant from it about two degrees, and along the corresponding coast on the south, the average breadth is seventy-three geographical miles; and from Surabáya to the north-east point of the island, distant about one degree and a half, and along the south coast opposite to it, the average breadth is forty-five geographical miles.

At the time when Europeans first visited Java, the whole of the island acknowledged the supremacy of one sovereign: but there was a period in its history when it was nearly equally divided under the independent administration of two powers, one established in the eastern, and the other in the western districts; and as there is a marked distinction between the descendants of these two nations, the most general division of the country is still into the western and eastern districts, to the latter of which alone the term Java is applied by the natives. They are separated by the river Losári, which forms the boundary between Chéribon and Brébes: and all the western, the northern, with a few of the inland districts and the Island of Madúra, are under the immediate authority and administration of the European government. The rest of the island remains subject to the native princes, and on that account is designated on the map and elsewhere, with more regard to convenience than correctness of language, as the Native Provinces.

The provinces under European authority have latterly been divided into fifteen residencies, or separate administrations, exclusive of the seat of government, which, as they will be frequently referred to in the course of this work, it may be convenient to notice in this place.

Commencing from the west, the province, or as it is usually termed, the kingdom of Bantam (properly Bántan) occupies the first place. This extensive province forms a large portion of the island. It is washed on three sides by the sea. At the[Vol I Pg 10] east it joins with the environs and highlands of Batavia and the district of Chi-ánjur, and on the west it is bounded by the Straits of Sunda; and in this quarter comprises dependant islands scattered along its shore, and the two harbours of Mew and Merák, which, with other bays, deeply indent the coast. Bantam, the native capital of this province, has been latterly deserted by the European establishment for Sírang (commonly called Ceram), an elevated and healthy station about seven miles further inland.

Next in succession towards the east is the division of Batavia, which comprises what formerly constituted the native province of Jákatra or Jokárta. The northern part of this division, towards the coast, includes the city of Batavia, populous and important on account of its excellent roads for shipping, its advantageous position for European commerce, and as being the long established seat of the Dutch government, but less fertile and healthy than the more eastern provinces of the island.

South and east of the division of Batavia and its environs lie what are termed by Europeans the Preanger (Priáng'en) Regencies,[18] the central and southern districts of which, stretching from Bantam to Chéribon, are extremely mountainous. This extensive portion of the island, which now includes a large part of Chéribon, consists of the districts of Kráwang, Chiásem, Pamanúkan, Kándang-aúr, and Dramáyu or Indramáyu, along the northern coast, and of the inland and southern districts of Chi-ánjur, Bándung, Súmedang, Lim-báng'an, and Súka-púra; the southern coast, from the boundary of Bantam to that of Chéribon, being included within the subdivisions of Chi-ánjur, and Súka-púra.

To the eastward of these districts, and crossing the island from north to south, is the province of Chéribon, divided into ten principal districts. To the south is the island of Núsa-kambáng'an which forms the harbour of Cheláchap.

East of Chéribon, as before noticed, it is only the northern and some of the inland districts, that are immediately subject[Vol I Pg 11] to the European authority. These, during the British government of the island, were comprised under the administrations of Tegúl, Pakalúng'an, Semárang, Japára, and Rembáng, which under the Dutch East-India Company constituted what was termed the government of the North-east Coast, the seat of which was at Semárang; and of Grésik, Surabáya, Pasúrúan, Bisúki, and Banyuwángi, which, with Bankálang and Súmenap on Madúra, constituted, under the same authority, the division of the Oost Hook, or East Point of the island, of which Surabáya was the principal station. Inland of Semárang and Pakalúngan, and bounded by those divisions, and by the provinces of the native princes, is situated the rich and fertile district of Kedú, which, with the more eastern districts of Grobogan, Wirosári, Blóra, Jípang, Jápan, and Wírasaba, stretching inland from Semárang to Surabáya, were ceded to the British government in the year 1812.

The capitals of all the northern districts bear the same name with the districts themselves, and are generally situated on small rivers at no great distance from the sea.

The Native Provinces are divided between two native sovereigns: the Susuhúnan, or Emperor of Java, who resides at Súra-kérta,[19] on the Solo River; and the Sultan, who resides at Yúg'ya-kérta,[20] near the south coast, in the province of Matárem. These provinces comprise several of the richest districts of the island, among which are Bányumas, Rómo, Bágalen, and Matárem, to the west; and Mádion, Jagarága, Sukawáti, Pranarága, Kértasána, Blítar, and Kedíri, to the east; and with the exception of the small district of Pachítan, which has been recently ceded to the European government, occupy the whole of the southern coast from Chéribon to [Vol I Pg 12]Málang, a distance of not less than two hundred and fifty miles, and form about a fourth part of the whole island.

The districts near the coasts are generally separated from each other by rivers; those in the interior often by ranges of hills and mountains. The districts are again divided, each subdivision including numerous villages.

The principal harbour of the island is that of Surabáya in the eastern districts, formed by the approaching extremities of Java and Madúra. It is broad and spacious, secure against the violence of the sea and wind, and may be rendered impregnable to any hostile attack.

The next in importance is that of Batavia, more properly, perhaps, called the roads of Batavia, which are sheltered by several islands lying in the outer part of the bay. These roads, however, not admitting of any means of permanent defence from the attack of a superior naval force, the Dutch government, during the late war, were induced to fortify the small harbour of Merák Bay, on the north-west coast of Bantam.

Along the northern coast, there are perhaps other positions which admit of being improved into convenient harbours; but where the whole coast affords excellent anchorage at nearly all seasons of the year, and where vessels of any burthen can approach all the principal stations, at a convenient distance for the barter of their merchandize, the purposes of commerce are in that respect already sufficiently provided for. The sea being usually smooth, and the weather moderate, the native vessels and small craft always find sufficient shelter at the change of the monsoon, by running under some of the numerous islands scattered along this coast, or passing up the rivers, which, though in general difficult of entrance on account of their bars, are for the most part navigable to such vessels, as far up as the maritime capitals, through which they run.

The south coast, on account of its exposure to the open ocean, the consequent high swell or surf which breaks on it, and its general want of good anchorage, is seldom visited by shipping. But even here harbours may be found; and those of Cheláchap and Pachítan might, no doubt, be frequented with safety, were it considered desirable to attract commercial adventurers to this side of the island.[Vol I Pg 13]

Passing from the coast to the interior of the country, the stranger cannot fail to be struck with the bold outline and prominent features of its scenery. An uninterrupted series or range of large mountains, varying in their elevation above the sea from five to eleven, and even twelve thousand feet,[21] and exhibiting, by their round base or pointed tops, their volcanic origin, extend through the whole length of the island.

The first of this series, commencing from the westward, is in Bantam. This mountain (Gûnung-kárang), though of moderate elevation compared with others on the island,[22] is seen at a considerable distance from sea, and is a well known landmark to mariners. It lies due south of the town of Bantam, at a considerable distance from the sea.

The next mountain of the series is the Salák, the eastern foot of which is connected with the Gedé or Panarang'o, situated about fifty miles south of Batavia. These two mountains are seen from the roads of Batavia, and, from the appearance they exhibit, are usually termed by mariners the Blue Mountains.

From the eastern part of the Gedé, the volcanic series separates into two independent branches, one of which inclines to the south; the other proceeds almost due east, slightly verging to the north. The former breaks into an irregular transverse range, which extends across the island, till it approaches the northern branch, from whence the general series is continued in an easterly direction as far as the mountain Sindóro, the western of the two mountains known by mariners as the Two Brothers. The mountain Súmbing, or Sindári (the second of The Brothers), is somewhat further to the south.

At a short distance from the eastern foot of the mountain Súmbing are three large volcanos, in a direction almost north and south, dividing the large series transversely; these are the mountains Ung'árang, Merbábu, and Merápi. The next volcano, in an eastern direction, is that of Japára, which [Vol I Pg 14]deviates more than any other from the regular series, and forms a peculiar peninsular appendage to the island. The series is then continued in an easterly course from the Merápi as far as the mountain Telágawúrung, which is in contact with the ocean at the eastern end of the island.

The several large mountains comprised in this series, and which are in number thirty-eight, though different from each other in external figure, agree in the general attribute of volcanos, having a broad base gradually verging towards the summit in the form of a cone.

They all rise from a plain but little elevated above the level of the sea, and each must, with very few exceptions, be considered as a separate mountain, raised by a cause independent of that which produced the others. Most of them have been formed at a very remote period, and are covered by the vegetation of many ages; but the indications and remains of their former irruptions are numerous and unequivocal. The craters of several are completely extinct; those of others contain small apertures, which continually discharge sulphureous vapours or smoke. Many of them have had irruptions during late years.[23][Vol I Pg 15]

Besides the mountains of the larger series above described, there are extensive ranges of mountains of an inferior elevation, [Vol I Pg 16]sometimes connected with the larger series, and sometimes independent of them, which are also for the most part [Vol I Pg 17]volcanic. Numerous ridges of hills traverse the country in various directions, and the surface of the island in general, [Vol I Pg 18]independently of these more striking features, is in most parts undulating and uneven, except on the sea coast.

[Vol I Pg 19] A country which abounds in mountains is seldom deficient in rivers; accordingly, no region is perhaps better watered. Java is singularly favoured in the number of its streams. The size of the island does not admit of the formation of large rivers, but there are probably fifty, that in the wet season, bear down rafts charged with timber and other rough produce of the country, and not less than five or six at all times navigable to the distance of some miles from the coast. It [Vol I Pg 20]would be vain to attempt numbering those which are precious to the agriculturist; they are many hundreds, if not thousands.

The largest, and most important river on the island, is that of Sólo, or as it is termed by the natives, Beng'áwan (the great) Sólo, which takes its rise in the district of Kadáwang, and after collecting the waters of the surrounding hills, becomes a stream of considerable depth and breadth at Súra-kérta, where it is further increased by the waters collected from the adjacent districts. Its general course from the capital is in an east-north-easterly direction, till it discharges itself by two principal outlets into the sea, near Grésik and Sidáyu. After leaving Matárem, it traverses the provinces of Sukawáti, Jagarága, Mádion, Jípang, Blóra, Túban, Sidáyu, and Grésik.

At Awi, near the boundary of Mádion and Jagarága, on the eastern side of the river, a large branch from the south-eastern provinces, commonly called the river of Mádion, unites itself with that of Sólo, and from hence its course, which in various places has been rapid, and in a few places impeded with rocks, is calm, regular, and steady to its discharge. It has been estimated, that the extent of the windings of this river is not less than three hundred and fifty-six English miles, from Súra-kérta to Grésik, which in the chart only gives a straight line of one hundred and forty English miles, and during its whole course no serious impediment appears to its navigation.

This river is of great importance to the inland trade of many of the eastern provinces. During the rainy season, boats of considerable size convey the produce of an extensive tract of country to the sea; and, except during the months of August, September, and October, and in seasons uncommonly dry, it bears down boats of middling or small size during the whole year, from a considerable distance above Súra-kérta. The boats employed in the navigation of the river are of very different sizes, and of a peculiar construction: they are very long in proportion to their breadth, have flat bottoms, and draw very little water. Those generally used in conveying the produce from one village to another in the vicinity of Súra-kérta, carry only a few tons, and have a temporary covering of straw mats, or kájang; others, more carefully constructed, have a regular roof of planks and a chamber or cabin which can be closed, and convey from fifty to one[Vol I Pg 21] hundred tons. These are generally used by individuals in their adventures to Grésik and Surabáya. The largest, which are the property of the prince, load nearly two hundred tons. They are employed in transporting the produce of several of the interior provinces, consisting chiefly of pepper and coffee, to Grésik, and return laden with salt and foreign merchandize for the consumption of the interior. They require a considerable depth of water, and can only pass when the river is swollen by continued rains. They mostly depart from Súra-kérta in the month of January. Their course down the river is rapid: they generally arrive at Grésik in eight days; but they can perform but one voyage in a season, as they require nearly four months to work up the stream.

The river of Surabáya, the second in magnitude of the whole island, rises near Bátu, in the vicinity of the southern hills of the mountain Arjúna. It is near its source called Káli-brántas. Near the capital of Málang it receives two streams from the eastward. There it first takes its course through the most southern provinces of the island, when winding round the mountain Káwi it returns again to the north, receiving near its curvature numerous augmentations from the southern ridge of mountains. The chief of these is the Lésti, a considerable river coming from the east, which joins it near the boundary of Málang and Seríng'at. Continuing its course in a northern direction, it traverses the provinces of Rówo and Kedíri, being joined on the way by the river Rówo: here it attains its utmost magnitude, and is distinguished by the name of Beng'áwan Kedíri. From the capital of this district to its mouths, it is navigable for boats of very considerable size, and its course is steady and uninterrupted. Having crossed the district of Wirasába and Jápan, it enters that of Surabáya. It discharges itself into the ocean by five outlets, which form as many separate rivers. The first of them, taking an easterly course, is called the river Púnong: then follow those of Tang'goláng'ing, Sído-kéri, Kedóng, and lastly of Wóno-króno, which again subdividing sends off the branch which passes Surabáya.

Several smaller rivers, which fall into the sea between Semárang and Lásem, are highly important for the conveyance of teak timber from the central forests to the coast; and the[Vol I Pg 22] waters from some of them being directed into canals, particularly through the low district of Demák, tend considerably to increase the inland navigation of the country.

In the western districts, the principal rivers which discharge themselves into the sea on the northern coast are the Chikándi, which forms the present boundary between Bantam and the environs of Batavia; the Chi-dáni, which discharges itself below Táng'ran; the Chi-tárom, which falls into the sea below Kráwang; and the Chi-mánok, which forms the present boundary between Dramáyu and Chéribon. The principal rivers which discharge themselves by the south coast are the Chi-mandíri, which falls into the sea at Palábuan-rátu, or Wyn Coops Bay; the Chi-tándui, which disembogues near Núsa-kambáng'an; and the Seráyu, which taking its rise in the mountain Díeng or Práhu, traverses the rich districts of Bányumas, and falls into the sea a short distance to the east of Cheláchap; but these rivers, though of considerable depth, are choked up at their mouths by heavy banks or bars, and in consequence of the heavy surf which constantly breaks on the southern coast, are dangerous at their entrance.

Along the northern coast, almost every district has its principal river, and most of them are navigable up to the maritime capitals for native vessels of considerable burthen; but they all have the disadvantage of being partially blocked up at their discharge by extensive bars and mud banks, an evil which is extending with the increase of agriculture, by reason of the quantify of soil necessarily washed down in the process of irrigating the land for the rice cultivation. Most of them require the application of jetties or piers to deepen the passages at their entrance.

There are no lakes of any considerable size on Java, for that name cannot be given to the ráwas, or swamps, which though swelled to a considerable size in the wet season, are for the rest of the year either dried up or choked by vegetation. Of this description are two extensive tracts; one inland of Japára, usually termed by the Dutch the Binnen Zee, or inland sea; and another in the district of Semárang. In Báglen also (one of the native provinces on the southern side of the island) there is a lake which supplies the neighbouring[Vol I Pg 23] country with fish, and along the coast of which a traffic is carried on in boats.

Extensive swamps are also found in some parts of the native provinces, and in the mountainous districts of the Súnda country. Several very beautiful lakes, of small dimensions, are discovered among the hills, and some of them can evidently be shown to have been formed of the craters of extinct volcanos.

The general aspect of Java on the northern coast is low, in many places swampy and overgrown with mangrove trees and bushes, particularly towards the west. The southern coast, on the contrary, consists almost entirely of a series of rocks and cliffs, which rise perpendicularly to a considerable height. In the interior, stupendous mountains stretch longitudinally throughout the island, while others of an inferior elevation, and innumerable ranges of hills running in various directions, serve to form and confine plains and valleys of various elevations and extent. On the northern side, the ascent is in general very gradual, from the sea-coast to the immediate base of the mountains; particularly in the western parts of the island, where it has the greatest breadth, and where the mountains are situated far inland. In approaching the mountains, which lie at the back of Batavia, there is a gradual but almost imperceptible acclivity for about forty miles. In other parts, where the mountains and hills approach nearer to the coast, the ascent is of course more abrupt, as may be observed in the vicinity of Semárang.

Although the northern coast is in many parts flat and uninteresting, the interior and southern provinces, from the mountainous character of the country, may be reckoned amongst the most romantic and highly diversified in the world; uniting all the rich and magnificent scenery, which waving forests, never-failing streams, and constant verdure can present, heightened by a pure atmosphere and the glowing tints of a tropical sun.

The largest of the elevated plains are; in the west, that of Bándung, formed between the two ranges of volcanos which branch off from the foot of the mountain Gedé; and in the east, those usually termed the plains of Sólo and Kedíri, which extend along the central districts from the Merápi to Kedíri and the site of the ancient capital of Mejapáhit. These are of con[Vol I Pg 24]siderable magnitude, and with the exception of the valley of Kedú and the province of Bányumas, through which the beautiful river of Seráyu bends its winding and romantic course, are perhaps the richest parts of the island. The low-lands, however, are not without their claims to that distinction; especially the flats of Demák, once an extensive swamp, and the Delta of Surabáya. Large tracts, particularly in the mountainous ranges of the western districts, still remain in a state of nature, or where the ground has been once cleared of forest, are now overrun with long and rank grass. In the central and eastern districts, the country is comparatively well clothed with cultivation.

Quitting the low coast of the north, in many parts unhealthy, the traveller can hardly advance five miles inland without feeling a sensible improvement in the atmosphere and climate. As he proceeds, at every step he breathes a purer air and surveys a brighter scene. At length he reaches the highlands. Here the boldest forms of nature are tempered by the rural arts of man: stupendous mountains clothed with abundant harvest, impetuous cataracts tamed to the peasant's will. Here is perpetual verdure; here are tints of the brightest hue. In the hottest season, the air retains its freshness; in the driest, the innumerable rills and rivulets preserve much of their water. This the mountain farmer directs in endless conduits and canals to irrigate the land, which he has laid out in terraces for its reception; it then descends to the plains, and spreads fertility wherever it flows, till at last, by numerous outlets, it discharges itself into the sea.

Almost all the mountains or volcanos, in the large series before noticed, are found on examination to have the same general constitution: they are striped vertically by sharp ridges, which, as they approach the foot of the mountain, take a more winding course. These ridges alternate with valleys, whose sides are of a very various declivity. Large rocks of basaltes occasionally project, and in several instances the valleys form the beds of rivers towards the tops of the volcanos; in the rainy season they all convey large volumes of water.

Next in importance to this extensive series of primary mountains, there are various ridges of smaller mountains,[Vol I Pg 25] or hills, extending in different directions, with nearly an equal degree of elevation; sometimes originating from or connected with the primary volcanos, sometimes forming independent ranges, and arising separately and at a distance from the great series. These, which have been termed secondary mountains, though evidently of a volcanic nature, differ in many particulars of their constitution from those of the larger series. They generally extend in long narrow ridges, with but a moderate elevation, and their sides are less regularly composed of the vertical ridges above mentioned. In most cases, a stratified structure and submarine origin may be discovered. They are generally covered with large rocks of basaltes; and in some instances they consist of wacken and hornblende, which is found along their base in immense piles.

Hills of calcareous constitution, with only a moderate degree of elevation, occur in smaller ridges, often with a flat or tabular top; or in steep rocks and eminences. These are sometimes found in the centre of the island, covering the volcanic districts, but much more frequently near the northern and southern shores.

Hills of a mixed nature, partly calcareous and partly volcanic, are also found. The southern coast of the island consists almost entirely of them, rising in many places to the perpendicular height of eighty or one hundred feet, and sometimes much higher. These, as they branch inward and approach the central or higher districts, gradually disappear, and give place to the volcanic series, or alternate with huge masses of basaltic hornblende, that appears to assume a regular stratification. At the base of these, or in the beds of the rivers which proceed from them, are frequently found various silicious stones, as common flints, prase, hornstone, jasper, porphyry, agate, cornelian, &c.

Alluvial districts, evidently of recent origin, are noticed in several parts of the island. These are formed from the sediment and near the discharge of large rivers, and at the borders of the calcareous ridges, which are in many instances partially covered by them: their boundary can easily be traced, and most of them are still in a state of constant progression. Among other phenomena are mineral wells of various temperature and impregnation; wells of naphtha, or petroleum;[Vol I Pg 26] and rivers arising, in a few instances, from the craters of volcanos, impregnated with sulphureous acid[24].[Vol I Pg 27]

From these, and all other investigations yet made, the constitution of Java appears to be exclusively volcanic. From [Vol I Pg 28]the vast Asiatic chain of mountains, one branch of which terminates in Ceylon, proceeds another, which traversing Arakan, Pegu, and the Malayan peninsula, extends to Sumatra, Bánka, and Bíliton, where it may be said to disappear. On Java no granite has been discovered. In its constitution, as in its direction, it may be considered as the first of a series of volcanic islands, which extend nearly eastward from the Straits of Sunda for about twenty-five degrees.

At what period the island assumed its present shape, or whether it was once joined to Sumatra and Báli, is matter for conjecture. The violent convulsions which these islands have so often suffered, justify a conclusion that the face of the country has been frequently changed, and tradition mentions the periods when Java was separated from those islands;[25] [Vol I Pg 29]but the essential difference which has been found in the mineralogical constitution of Java and Sumatra, would seem to indicate a different origin, and to support the opinion that those two islands were never united. Whether, at a period more remote, the whole Archipelago formed part of the continent of Asia, and was divided from it and shattered into islands; whether they were originally distinct from the main land, or whether they were formed at the same time, or subsequently, are questions we cannot resolve. Yet, when we reflect on the violence of those dreadful phenomena[26] which [Vol I Pg 30]have occurred in our own times in the smaller islands of the volcanic series, and view this range, as it is now presented to [Vol I Pg 31]us on the map of the world, a conjecture might perhaps be hazarded, that the whole may have once formed but the [Vol I Pg 32]southern side of one large island or continent, within which much of the main land has fallen in, and subsequently disappeared on the influx of the sea.

[Vol I Pg 33] The constitution of the island is unfavourable to metals. All the examinations hitherto made confirm this assertion, and it may be laid down as a general position, that no metals occur, in such a quantity, or with such richness of ore, as to reward the operations of the miner. The only notice we have of the existence of gold or silver is contained in the first volume of the Transactions of the Batavian Society; and the attempts on the mountain of Párang, in 1723, and on the Mégeméndung, in 1744, were soon abandoned. Iron pyrites is found in small quantity in several districts, as well as red-ochre; which, however, often contains so little iron, as scarcely to serve for the common purpose of paint. The existence of mercury in the low lands of Démak, where it is distributed in minute particles through the clay of the rice-grounds bounding one of the principal rivers of that district, has not been considered as an indication of a mine, or of the ores of that metal.

No diamonds are found, nor other precious stones, but many minerals of the schorl, quartz, potstone, feldspar, and trap kind. They mostly exist in mountains of secondary elevation, towards the southern shores of the island, sometimes in extensive veins; but separate fragments are carried down by the rivers, and found far from their original deposition. Prase is found in very extensive veins; hornstone is also abundant in particular situations, as well as flint, chalcedony, hyalite, common jasper, jasper-agate, obsidian, and porphyry.

The soil in Java is for the most part rich, and remarkable for its depth; probably owing to the exclusively volcanic constitution [Vol I Pg 34]of the country, and the constant accession of new mould, which is washed down the side of its numerous mountains. It has the character of being in a high degree richer than the ordinary soil of the Malayan countries in general, particularly of Sumatra and the Malayan peninsula. The best soil resembles the richest garden-mould of Europe; and whenever it can be exposed to the inundation necessary for the rice crop, requires no manure, and will bear without impoverishment, one heavy and one light crop in the year: the poorest, with this advantage, will yield a liberal return to the husbandman. In an island of such extent and variety of surface, the soil is necessarily various, but its general character is that of extraordinary fertility. The red and very light soil of the western districts is generally considered inferior to the dark brown and stiffer soil which prevails in the eastern. The best soil is usually found near the beds of rivers, in the valleys, and on the slopes of the largest mountains: the worst on the ranges of low calcareous hills, which run through different parts of the island.

The seasons, in all the countries situated within about ten degrees of the equator, agree in this: that as one eternal summer prevails, they are not distinguished as hot and cold, but as wet and dry. On Java the seasons depend upon the periodical winds. The period of the setting in of these winds is not determined within a few weeks; but generally the westerly winds, which are always attended with rain, are felt in October, become more steady in November and December, and gradually subside, till in March or April they are succeeded by the easterly winds and fair weather, which continue for the remaining half year. The heaviest rains are in the months of December and January, and the driest weather is in July and August; at which latter period, also, the nights are coldest and the days hottest. The weather is most unsettled when the season is changing, particularly at the first setting in of the westerly winds: but those violent storms and hurricanes, which are so often felt in the West Indies and in higher latitudes, are here unknown. With the exception of a few days at these periods, or when the westerly winds are at their height, vessels of any description may ride in safety in most of the bays along the northern coast of the island; and on shore, the wind is never so violent as to do damage. Thunder-storms are, however, frequent, and the[Vol I Pg 35] lightning is extremely vivid. In the vicinity of the hills, and elsewhere during the dry season, seldom a day passes without thunder and lightning; and although these grand exhibitions of nature cause less consternation in general within the tropics than beyond them, it cannot be denied that they are destructive of many lives. Earthquakes are to be expected in a volcanic country, and are frequent in the vicinity of the volcanos; but the European towns have never sustained any serious injury from them.

During the rainy season there are many days free from showers. The mornings are generally clear, and although the rains sometimes continue without intermission for several days, and frequently fall in torrents, they are not marked on Java by that decided character, either of permanence or violence, which distinguishes the periodical rains of the continent of India; neither is the dry season distinguished by that excessive aridity which attends the hot seasons of that country. Even in July and August, the atmosphere is refreshed by occasional showers, and the landscape is at all times of the year covered with the brightest verdure. The thermometer of Fahrenheit has been known to rise along the northern coast as high as 90° about three in the afternoon, and even higher, particularly in the large and low capitals of Batavia, Semárang, and Surabáya; but from observations made during a course of some years at Batavia, and published under the authority of the Dutch government, it has been found usually to range between 70 and 74° in the evenings and mornings, and to stand about 83° at noon. By similar observations at Semárang, the same thermometer, placed in a spacious and open apartment, has averaged 87½° at noon.

At a distance inland of not more than thirty or forty miles, where the ascent is gradual, and of fifteen or twenty or less where it is rapid, the thermometer falls from five to ten degrees lower. At Chi-serúa, situated about 40 miles inland of Batavia, and Chi-pánas, about twelve miles further, on the opposite slope of the mountain Gedé, the thermometer ranges generally between 60 and 70°. In the morning, at six o'clock, it is sometimes as low as 57°; and in the afternoon, at three, its usual height is from 67 to 70°, but seldom rising to 72°. On some of the hills inland of Semárang, on which Europeans frequently reside during the dry season, at an elevation of about four[Vol I Pg 36] thousand feet, the thermometer is frequently seen as low as 45°, and generally, in the clear season, ranges from 50 to 62°, and on the summit of one of the mountains (Sindóro) it has been observed as low as 27°[27]. Ice, as thick as a Spanish dollar, has been found; and hoar-frost, denominated bóhon úpas, or the poisonous dew, has been observed on the trees and vegetation of some of the higher regions.

By its insular situation, the climate of Java enjoys the benefit of land and sea breezes, which in its least favoured parts subdue the fierceness of the tropical rays, while the great elevation of its interior affords the rare advantage, that from the sea-shore up to the tops of the mountains, there is, almost from one end of the island to the other, a regular diminution of the temperature, at the rate of two or three degrees of Fahrenheit for every ten miles.

The general inference which has been drawn by professional men, from the experience which the occupation of Java by the British has afforded, is, that with the exception of the town of Batavia, and some parts of the northern coast, the island of Java stands on a level, in point of salubrity, with the healthiest parts of British India, or of any tropical country in the world.

The principal stations of the British army, composed of Europeans and Sepoys, were at Weltevreden, within three miles of the town of Batavia, and at Semárang and Surabáya, spots certainly less favourable to health than the rest of the island taken generally; but detachments from it have occasionally done duty in every district of the island.

The tables included in the Appendix[28], will shew, that notwithstanding the troops laboured under many disadvantages and privations, in point of accommodation, &c. to which they would not have been subjected in a more permanent settlement, and that they were otherwise exposed to diseases unconnected with those of the climate, the average casualties were not excessive. From the 1st November, 1813, to the same month in 1814, the average number of troops is stated to have been 7,470, the deaths 504, making a proportion of 1 to 14-8: the average number of sick in the same period was 862, making [Vol I Pg 37]a proportion of sick to well as 1 to 8. From the beginning of November 1814 to the same month in 1815, out of an average number of troops stationed in different parts of the island, in corps and detachments, amounting to 7,487, there were 252 deaths, 63 of which were caused by fever, 123 by dysentery, and 65 by other diseases, making an average number of deaths of 21 per month, or in the proportion of one death to thirty men in the year, a proportion not exceeding that of some of the healthiest possessions in temperate climates.

To this general result may be added the comparative casualties in his Majesty's 78th regiment, during the period of its being stationed in India and Java. This regiment has occasionally been cantoned at each of the principal stations, and has remained on the island from the first conquest of Java. By the table will be seen the number of rank and file of which this regiment consisted at different periods, since 1797 to 1815, and the number of casualties in the same periods. It might not be proper to select the years in which it landed on the continent of India or on Java; but those in which it was stationed in either country may be brought together, as fit subjects for comparison. By calculation, upon the data of the table, it will appear, that from December 1800 to December 1801, the deaths were to the number of troops as 1 to about 20½; in 1801-2, as 1 to 12; in 1803-4, as 1 to 5¼; in 1804-5, as 1 to 8½; in 1805, as 1 to about 20; in 1806-7, as 1 to 28 nearly; in 1807-8, as 1 to 24½; in 1809-10, as 1 to about 23; in 1811-12, as 1 to 3¾; in 1813-14, as 1 to 6; and in 1814-15, as 1 to about 20 nearly. The places at which the regiment was stationed at these different periods will be seen by the table; and the cause of the unusual mortality that prevailed in 1811-12, and which exceeds any of the years on the continent, will be found in an extract from the letter of Dr. Currie, the surgeon, inclosing the return. The mortality in the last year was as 1 to 20 in the regiment, and among the whole troops, according to the data above, as 1 to about 30; a low estimate for climates, whose characters stand higher for salubrity than that of Java.

That the climate of Java, in general, is congenial to the human frame, at least to that of an Asiatic, is corroborated by the great extent of its native population, compared with that of the surrounding islands, notwithstanding the checks which[Vol I Pg 38] it experienced both from the native princes and the European government; and the convincing proof which the records of the British army now afford, are perhaps sufficient to remove the unfavourable impression which existed against the climate of the island, as affecting Europeans.

At the same time, however, that Java has to boast this general character of high salubrity, comparatively with other tropical climates, it is not to be denied that there are some spots upon it which are decidedly unhealthy. These are to be found along the low swampy marshes of the northern coast, which are mostly recent encroachments upon the sea: the principal of these is Batavia, the long established capital of the Dutch eastern empire.

The climate of this city has ever been considered as one of the most baneful in the world. It has even been designated the storehouse of disease; with how much justice, is too woefully demonstrated by the writings of those visitors who have survived its perils, and the records of the Dutch East-India Company itself. If we may credit Raynal,[29] there perished between the years 1714 and 1776, in the hospitals of Batavia, above eighty-seven thousand sailors and soldiers. From the table, No. 1, imperfect as it is, on account of the loss of many of the registers at the period of the British conquest, it will be seen what a large proportion the deaths bore to the whole population; and from the table, No. 2, of the same Appendix, discovered among the Dutch records, it appears further, that the total amount of deaths in this city, from the year 1730 to the year 1752, was in twenty-two years more than a million of souls.

To those who are acquainted with the manner in which the affairs of the Dutch East-India Company were managed abroad, there will perhaps be no difficulty in laying rather at the door of the colonists, than of the nation, the crime of maintaining a commercial monopoly, at such a dreadful expence of lives as resulted from confining the European population within the narrow walls of this unhealthy city. That the sacrifice was made for that object, or to speak more correctly, under that pretext, for the private interests of the[Vol I Pg 39] colonists who were entrusted with its details, can scarcely be doubted. From the moment the walls of the city were demolished, the draw-bridges let down, and free egress and ingress to and from the country was permitted, the population began to migrate to a more healthy spot, and they had not to go above one or two miles beyond the precincts before they found themselves in a different climate. But this indulgence, as it gave the inhabitants a purer air, so it gave them a clearer insight into the resources of the country, and notions of a freer commerce, which, of all things, it was the object of the local government and its officers to limit or suppress.

Necessity might have first determined the choice of the spot for the European capital; but a perseverance in the policy of confining the European population within its walls, after so many direful warnings of its insalubrity, cannot but lead to the inference, that either the monopoly of the trade was considered a greater object to the nation than the lives of the inhabitants, or that the more liberal views of the government were defeated by the weakness or corruption of its agents.

Of the vegetable and animal kingdoms, as of the mineral, we shall content ourselves with such an account as may be necessary to convey to the reader a general notion of the nature of the country and its resources, referring the man of science to the intended publication of Dr. Thomas Horsfield, a gentleman whose sole attention has, for the last seven years, been directed to the natural history of Java.

Java is distinguished not only by the abundance of its vegetation, but by its extraordinary variety. Upwards of a thousand plants are already contained in the herb-area of Dr. Horsfield, of which a large proportion are new to the naturalist. Between the tops of the mountains and the sea-shore, Java may be considered as possessing at least six distinct climates, each furnishing a copious indigenous botany, while the productions of every region in the world may find a congenial spot somewhere in the island.

Vegetable productions, which contribute to the food and sustenance of man, are found in great variety. Of these the most important is rice, which forms the staple grain of the country, and of which there are upwards of a hundred[Vol I Pg 40] varieties. Maize, or Indian corn, ranks next, and is principally cultivated in the higher regions, or in those tracts where the soil is unfavourable to the rice cultivation. The bean, or káchang, of which there are many varieties, is an important article of food. Of the sugar-cane, which is used by the natives only in its raw state, they distinguish eight varieties, an account of which, as well as of the cultivation of coffee, pepper, indigo, tobacco, &c. will be found in the chapter on agriculture. Aniseed, múngsi, cummin-seed, márícha (black pepper), chábi jáwa (long pepper), kumúkus (cubebs), socha dolichos, and mendéking, plants of considerable importance, may be considered as indigenous to the island, and are collected for various uses in diet and medicine.

Besides the cocoa-nut and other productions more generally known, there are many trees growing spontaneously, of which the seeds and kernels are used as food; the principal of these are the peté, jéngkol, and kómlandíngan, several species of the mimosa, and the púchang and kamíri. The bread-fruit tree grows on Java, and is of the same species (although inferior in quality) with that of the South Sea Islands: but the fruit is comparatively very little esteemed or employed as an article of food.

Of tuberous roots, besides those furnished from the principal genera, convolvulus, dioscorea, and arum, are those from the bangkwang (dolichos bulbosus), the roots of which are much esteemed by the natives, and the kéntang jáwa (ocymum tuberosum) or Java potatoe. Most of the numerous varieties of the convolvulus and dioscorea, which furnish food for the natives, have been enumerated in one of the first volumes of the Batavian Transactions. The jatropha manihot, called úwi blanda, or wúdo, has been propagated through all parts of Java, and is found growing in the hedges.

The true sago of Amboina and the Eastern Islands, is found only solitary in a few low and marshy situations, and the preparation of it from the pith of the tree is not known to the inhabitants of Java: the leaves only are employed for covering houses; but from the áren, or sagurus rumphii, which grows abundantly in every part of the island, and on account of its variously extensive uses, ranks next in importance to the cocoa-nut, a substance is prepared, similar in all respects[Vol I Pg 41] to the true sago of the Eastern Islands. The tops of various trees of the palm kind, which are sought after in other parts of the East as food, are, on account of the abundance of rice and other esculent vegetables, but little regarded in Java; but the young shoots of many varieties of the bambu are used in the diet of the natives. Wheat and potatoes, with almost every species of European vegetables, are cultivated with success. Of the oil-giving plants a particular account will be given when describing the agriculture of the country.

Java, in common with the Malayan islands in general, abounds in indigenous fruits. "No region of the earth," observes Mr. Marsden, "can boast an equal abundance and variety of indigenous fruits." The mangústin, which on account of its acknowledged pre-eminence amongst Indian fruits, has been termed the pride of these countries; the durian, or dúren, to which the natives of these islands are so passionately attached; the rámbutan, the lánseh or lánseb, with an extensive variety of the jack, the mango, the plantain, the guava, the pine-apple, the papaw, the custard-apple, the pomegranate, and almost every species of fruit which grows within the tropics, are here found in the greatest variety. The tamarind tree is general. The island also produces many kinds of oranges, citrons, lemons, and in particular the pumplemous (known in Bengal under the name of the Batavian lembu, or lime, and in the West Indies as the shaddock), besides the sáwu, klédung, pachítan, and a variety of others, not generally known to Europeans, but well calculated for the table. Of the mango, at least forty varieties are enumerated; the wild raspberry, which is found in the higher regions, is not destitute of flavour; one kind, in particular, with dark violet-coloured fruit, approaches in taste to the European species. In some of the mountainous tracts are to be found peaches, Chinese pears, and some other fruits imported from Japan, the Cape of Good Hope, and China.

Among innumerable flowers which bloom in perpetual succession throughout the year, and impregnate the air of these countries with their fragrance, those of the champáka, tán-jong, meláti, kanáng'a and nágasári, hold the first rank; they are used by the natives in the ornament of their persons, and are remarkable for their fragrance. The myrtle and rose[Vol I Pg 42] are found in the gardens of Europeans. A great variety of ornamental trees and shrubs, many of them overlooked in the catalogues of Rhumphius and Van Rheede, have been noticed, as deserving cultivation for their utility as well as beauty.

The medicinal plants of Java have been described in an account published in the Batavian Transactions: among these are many which are employed in the daily practice of the natives, of which a large proportion have not been subjects of investigation or experiment by Europeans, and others which had not previously been botanically described or classed. In a country hitherto imperfectly explored, and abounding in profuse vegetation, it was natural to calculate on the discovery of many useful medicinal plants; and among upwards of sixty, described, for the first time, by Dr. Horsfield, he particularly notices several, as likely to become most valuable articles in general medicinal practice.

Besides abundance of coir, termed sepét by the natives, prepared from the fibres which surround the cocoa-nut, and gamuti (called duk), prepared from those of the áren tree, both of which are well known, another species of palm, the gebáng, also yields valuable ropes, the fibre of which is obtained from the large petioles or stalks of the leaves by pounding and beating. Intelligent natives assert, that ropes prepared from these are particularly valuable, exceeding in strength all other kinds of equal size. The fibres and ropes are called bas. The cotton shrub (gossypium herbaceum) is universal; and hemp, though its uses are unknown to the Javans, is found in the gardens of foreign settlers. Besides these, the island affords various kinds of vegetables, the fibrous bark of which is made into thread, rope, cloth, &c.; but they are never cultivated, and when required for use are collected in their wild state. The general denomination, in the Javan language, of the internal bark of all vegetables which can be manufactured into cords, thread, &c. is lúlub. This being freed, by beating or maceration, from the adhering particles of the exterior bark, yields the fibrous substance, which is twisted by the most simple process, commonly by the hands alone. The trees which afford the lúlub are the wáru, which is very abundant, and is manufactured into ropes for all common domestic pur[Vol I Pg 43]poses; the melínju, the bark of which is called bágu; and the béndo, which affords ropes of superior strength and durability.

Of the bambusa, the pring-ápus, the stem of which may be considered arborescent, furnishes the cheapest ropes. These are made with great expedition, being split into thin strips, which are twisted on the spot into cords fit for all common purposes, although they are serviceable only for a few days. They are uniformly used, in travelling, for securing baggage, &c. Among shrubs principally employed for these purposes are the werúng, urís-urísan, dalúmpang, che-plákan and glúgo; among plants, the widúri and rámi; the fibres of the latter afford very strong and durable cords, which are chiefly employed for nets or lines, and used in fishing: they greatly resemble the sunn of western India, and would probably be found to answer the same purpose, as well in furnishing the bags called in India gunny-bags, for the transportation of goods, as for the manufacture of paper in Europe. This remark applies also to the lúlub of several of the other shrubs mentioned. Several species of písang or plantain yield the materials for ropes and cords of various fineness, according to the methods employed in preparing them. In the Manilla Islands, cables are made from these fibres; and in the first volume of the Batavian Transactions a mode is described of preparing from them a substance resembling cotton. The leaves of the 'nanas, or pine-apple, contain also abundance of useful fibres, which are easily separated in a bundle, after scraping off the coriaceous substance. It is very fine, and the separate fibres are employed by the natives in sewing without any preparation; but it may also be spun, and is made into a kind of stuff resembling silk, gauze, &c.

Mats are made from several species of pandanus, from a kind of grass called méndong, and from the leaves of various palms, particularly the gebáng. The latter affords the most common kinds, coarser and less durable than the others, as well as bags (straw sacks) resembling very coarse mats.

The paper in common use with the Javans is manufactured from the glúgo, (morus papyrifera.)

A variety of vegetable substances are used in dyeing: the principal of which, however, are the tom, or indigo, which is[Vol I Pg 44] extensively cultivated throughout the island; and the wong-kúdu, which affords a lasting scarlet. A black dye is obtained from the bark of several exotic trees, united with the rind of the mangústin fruit. A yellow dye is also obtained from an exotic wood, heightened by the addition of the bark of the nángka tree, and a variety of the mango.

Extensive forests of the játi, or teak of India[30], are found in almost all the eastern provinces; but the most valuable and important are in the central districts, situated inland, between Semárang and Sidáyu, and particularly in the districts of Blóra, Jípang, and Padáng'an.

Of the teak tree there is but one species known, the tectona grandis of Linnæus, the tekka of Van Rheede, and the jatus of Rhumphius. Its natural history has been already fully detailed, and all the kinds generally enumerated are merely varieties. These are usually distinguished among the natives of Java by names derived from the quality and colour of the wood. The principal are the játi kápur, the chalky teak, and a kind varying in colour, and on account of its excellence termed játi súng'gu, or the true teak. The former is the most common: its wood is of a whitish hue, and it sometimes contains calcareous concretions in nodules or streaks. This sort[Vol I Pg 45] is chiefly employed for common domestic purposes, and though inferior in quality to many others, from its abundance and comparative cheapness, is perhaps the most generally useful. The játi súng'gu is harder, closer, and more ponderous, and particularly selected for ship-building. The colour of the wood is of different shades, from light to intense brown, with a cast of violet verging sometimes to red or black. If the stem is covered with spines, or rather pointed scales, it is called játi dúri, but in its texture and quality it agrees with the játi súnge'gu. Besides these the natives distinguish, as játi gémbol, those excrescences or protuberances which are produced from a variety of the játi, furnishing materials for handsome cabinet-work.

The teak tree on Java grows at a moderate elevation above the level of the ocean. It is generally conceived, that the timber afforded by forests growing on a soil of which the basis is limestone, and the surface uneven, gravelly, or rocky, is the hardest, the freest from chalky concretions, and in all respects the best; but in laying out a teak plantation, a soil consisting in a great proportion of black vegetable mould, is always selected for the purpose of obtaining a rapid growth. The teak tree is slender and erect. It shoots up with considerable vigour and rapidity, but its expansion is slow. Like all other trees affording useful timber of a close grain, it is many years in arriving at maturity. Under favourable circumstances, a growth of from twenty to twenty-five years affords a tree having about twelve inches diameter at the base. It requires at least a century to attain its perfection, but for common purposes, it is usually felled when between thirty and fifty years old[31].

Notwithstanding the extent to which cultivation has been[Vol I Pg 46] carried in many districts of the island, large portions of its surface are still covered with primeval forests, affording excellent timber of various descriptions. Besides the teak, there are several kinds of wood or timber employed for various domestic purposes, as the súren (the tuna of Bengal), of which the wood is very light, stronger and more durable than all other kinds of similar weight produced on the island: as the grain is not fine, it is not employed in making furniture, but it is useful for chests, trunks, carriages, &c.; its colour is red, and its odour somewhat resembling that of the cedar. Its weight is probably inferior to that of the larch.—The wúngú or ketángi is often used instead of teak: the grain is somewhat finer: when in full blossom it is perhaps the most beautiful tree existing.—The wádang or báyur, a light and tolerably durable wood, is employed for masts and spars of small vessels; but the surface must be well covered with resinous substances to prevent its splitting.—The gintúngan is employed in the same manner, but grows to a larger size; the colour of the wood and bark is red.—The lampéan or lában is light but durable, and affords materials for the handles of the spears or pikes borne by the natives.—The nángka abounds in several districts where teak is not found, and is almost exclusively used in the construction of houses, and other domestic purposes: the wood is more close and ponderous than the súren, which it otherwise resembles; it takes a tolerable polish, and is sometimes employed for furniture. The colour is yellow; but it is made to receive a brownish hue, by the application of the young teak-leaves in polishing: its bark is used as a yellow dye.—The lúren resembles the nángka, but is generally of rare occurrence, though in some tracts it furnishes the only timber: its use in the neighbouring islands, particularly on Sumatra, is well known.—The kusámbi is uncommonly heavy, hard, and close: it supplies anchors for small vessels, blocks, pestles, and numerous similar utensils.—The sáwur is a very beautiful and useful wood; the colour resembles that of mahogany, but the grain is closer, and it is more ponderous: its chief use is for handles of tools for carpenters and other artificers, for machinery, especially for the teeth of the wheels of mills, and other purposes where a hard and durable wood is required. On account of its scarcity, it is uniformly cut down on Java before[Vol I Pg 47] it arrives at the necessary size for cabinet-work. Forests of it grow on the hills of Báli, opposite the Javan shore, whence it is brought over by boat-loads for sale.

The pílang is a very hard wood, and employed in the eastern districts, instead of lignum-vitæ, for the construction of ships'-blocks, &c.—The pung is equally hard, and uniformly employed by the natives for pegs in constructing their prahus.—The wáli kúkun is equal to the kusámbi in weight, and exceeds it in hardness: it is employed for anchors, naves of wheels, machinery, &c.—The tang'gulun is a hard wood of a close grain, and employed by turners for various small works.—The kelúmpit is a very large tree: sections are employed by the natives for cart wheels.—The járan is a white wood taking the tool easily: the natives prefer it to all others for the construction of their saddles, which consist principally of wood.—The demólo affords a light wood, which is made into planks, and employed where durability is not much required.—The wood of the kedáwung is whitish and moderately hard.—The lában is a yellowish and hard wood: it is employed for the handles of axes and various utensils.—The jánglot is considered by the natives as the toughest wood produced in the island, and is always employed for bows when procurable: the tree is of a moderate size.—The béndo is a light wood, useful for canoes.—The séntul is a light close-grained wood, and easily worked: it resembles the súren.

For household furniture, cabinet-ware, &c. are employed—the sóno kling of the Maláyus, the colour of which is a deep brown, inclining to black:—the sóno kómbang, which has some resemblance to the lingua wood of the Moluccas:—the war'm-lot, dark brown; and próno-sodo, resembling the walnut, both scarce:—the wer'n, of a brown colour, of a close substance and light, abundant in some districts:—the mentáus and júmberit, the wood of which is white and fine-grained, uniformly used for inlaying:—the randu kúning, yellowish and close-grained:—and the íng'as, of a brownish red colour, and very brittle.

For the hilts and sheaths of krîses, the natives make use of the timóko, of which the black and white variegated fragments are called pélet. These are of various kinds.—The arúman,[Vol I Pg 48] variegated white and black, is also employed for canes, handles, and spears, &c. and is very heavy.—The tiké, yellowish, closed and marble,—the mángu,—the áti áti,—the kráminan,—the púrwo-kúning and several others, are employed for the same purposes.—The kamúning is of a brownish colour and very fine grain:—the tayúman resembles the last and is very much esteemed:—the wúni stelágo affords a reddish wood.

Among the most extensively useful productions ought not to be forgotten the bámbu, or príng, which abounds on Java, and seems, from the greater luxuriance and variety by which it is here distinguished, to find the soil and climate more congenial to its growth than those of any other country. It blossoms in different parts of the island. The rattans (rótan) of Java are on the whole inferior to those of Sumatra and Borneo: the improved state of cultivation is unfavourable to their growth and propagation.

Many woods afford excellent fuel. The charcoal prepared from the kusámbi is equal perhaps to that of any other wood with which we are acquainted, and is universally preferred in cooking, and in the other branches of domestic economy. Charcoal, for gunpowder, is uniformly prepared from the celtis orientalis, called áng'grung.

Among the useful trees must be noticed: the soap-tree, of which the fruit is used to a very great extent in washing linen:—the kasémak, from the bark of which is made a varnish for umbrellas:—the sámpang, from the resin of which the natives prepare a shining varnish for the wooden sheaths of krîses:—the cotton-tree, from which a silky wool is obtained for stuffing pillows and beds:—the wax-tree, which, though scarce on Java, grows abundantly on some parts of Madúra: (the kernel, by expression, produces an oil, which some time after becomes hard and bears a resemblance to wax; it may be burnt in lamps or converted into candles, and affords an agreeable odour): the bendúd, a shrub producing the substance of which the elastic gum, commonly called Indian-rubber, is prepared. The art of preparing it in this form is however unknown in Java. Torches are made of it, for the use of those who search for birds' nests in the rocks, and it serves for winding round the stick employed to strike musical instruments, as the gong, &c. to soften[Vol I Pg 49] the sound. The mínyak káwon or niátu is a very useful tree, which grows solitary in all, and abundantly in some parts of the island, and produces a kind of tallow.

Dámar, or resin, is distinguished by the inhabitants of these countries into two kinds: dámar-bátu or séla, and dámar-puti, comprising numerous varieties obtained from different trees. None of these are, however, produced on Java. Besides the rásamála, which is very limited as to its place of growth, the Canáram, and a peculiar resin employed by the natives for varnishing the wooden sheaths of their krîses, called sámpang, few odoriferous resins are found. The camphor-tree, which abounds on Sumatra and Borneo, is unknown on Java. The wood oil, distinguished among the Malays by the name of krúwing (which in Java is applied to all resinous or oily substances employed in the construction of vessels), is not a native of Java, but it grows abundantly on Banka and Sumatra.

None of what are called the finer kinds of spices, namely, the nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon, are indigenous to Java; but the few trees which have been planted in the gardens of Europeans have thriven well: and, from the nature of the soil and climate, there seems little doubt that the nutmeg and clove, in particular, might be extensively cultivated throughout the island, did it suit the policy of the European government to admit of their general introduction.

The vine was once extensively cultivated in some of the eastern provinces of the island, in which the soil and climate appear well calculated for its growth; but an apprehension, on the part of the Dutch East-India Company, that its cultivation on Java might interfere with the wine trade of the Cape of Good Hope, induced them to discourage it, and the preparation of wine from the grape was strictly prohibited. Lieutenant-Colonel Mackenzie, when noticing the vast quantities of ashes thrown up from the different volcanos, makes the following observation on the eastern part of Java. "The soil of the country is evidently enriched by the ashes and earth emitted by these eruptions, and there is reason to conclude, what persons well acquainted with the south of Europe assert, that the vines of Italy and the Cape would thrive in perfection, in a soil and climate so well adapted to them."[Vol I Pg 50]

Among the vegetable productions of Java, none has excited more interest than the celebrated úpas, or poison-tree. Mr. Marsden, in his history of Sumatra[32], has referred to various concurring authorities, in refutation of the very extraordinary tales told of this tree; and, in this general account of the productions of Java, it may perhaps be sufficient to refer the reader to the particulars contained in the subjoined note[33].[Vol I Pg 51]

Of the useful or domestic quadrupeds it may be observed, that neither the elephant nor the camel is a native of Java: [Vol I Pg 52]the former is rarely imported, the latter unknown. Neither the ass nor mule is found; but the island has a fine breed of [Vol I Pg 53]small horses (járan), strong, fleet, and well made. A still finer breed is imported from Bíma, on the neighbouring [Vol I Pg 54]island of Sumbáwa, which by competent judges has been said to resemble the Arab in every respect except size. They [Vol I Pg 55]seldom exceed thirteen hands, and in general are below this standard.

[Vol I Pg 56] The bull and cow (sápi or lémbu) are general, but much more so in the central and eastern districts than in the western. The breed has been greatly improved by the species introduced from continental India. But the animal of most essential and general use in the agriculture of the country is the buffalo (kábu, maísa, or múnding), a particular account of which will appear in the chapter on Agriculture. Goats (wedús) are numerous and of a small size: sheep (called here European goats) are scarce and small. As in other sultry climates, the latter have a coarse woollen coat, which is employed for stuffing saddles, pillows, &c. but it is in so little request that the inhabitants are rarely at the trouble of shearing for it. The hog (chéleng) is reared principally among the Chinese.

Of beasts of prey may be enumerated several species of the tiger, as the máchan lóreng (felis tigris), máchan gogor (a variety), máchan tútul (probably the small leopard of Pennant), máchan kombang and kúwuk, the smallest kind, called tiger-cats. The jackal, and several varieties of the wild-dog; as the ásu wáwar, ásu ájag, or ásu kíki; and among other wild quadrupeds, the rhinoceros, and bánteng, or wild Javan ox, the wild-hog and the stag: the last, as well as the rib-faced and axis deer, is tamed and fattened for food. The aggregate number of mammalia on Java have been estimated at about fifty. The habits and manners of the larger animals, the tiger, leopard, black tiger, rhinoceros and stag, and two species of deer, the varieties of the wild-hog, &c. are sufficiently known; but the bánteng, or Javan ox, the Javan buffalo, the varieties of the wild-dog, those of the weasel and squirrel, and most of the other smaller quadrupeds, still present curious subjects for the study of the naturalist. Next to the rhinoceros, which [Vol I Pg 57]sometimes (though rarely at present) injures plantations, the wild-hogs are the most destructive animals. They are often poisoned (or intoxicated, according to the quantity they consume) by the kálák kámbing, or by the remains from the preparation of brom. The practice of suspending rags impregnated with urine, at small distances around the plantations, is universal over the whole island. These animals are said to have so violent an aversion to this odour, that even this "feeble barrier" is useful in preserving the plantations.

Musk, called dedes, is procured from the rasé.

Although the same qualities are ascribed to them here as in other countries, bezoars are comparatively scarce in Java; and those occasionally found in the maritime capitals are uniformly brought from other countries. The hog-deer and Nicobar pigeon are not natives; and although wild-hogs, in which bezoars are said to be found, are very abundant, they are never examined or approached by the natives. Every extraordinary concretion, calculus, ossification, &c. found in any part of an animal, is called mustíka, which corresponds to the bezoar of the Arabs, Persians, &c. A concretion of feathers found in the stomach of a fowl is called mustíka áyam, and is carefully preserved. A stony concretion, discovered accidentally by the rattling of a human skull exposed for many years to the action of the sun, has been denominated mustíka órang, and the most salutary virtues ascribed to it. Analogous to the bezoars, must be considered the horns of the rhinoceros, whose virtues are highly prized.

Among the domestic fowls, or poultry, are the turkey, which is comparatively scarce, and chiefly raised for the tables of Europeans; the goose, which is very common near all the establishments of Europeans; the bébek, or duck, abundant in every part of the island; the common fowl and pigeons. Among the birds of prey, the eagle is not found; but there are several varieties of the falcon, of which the jóko wuru is the largest; also the carrion crow and the owl. Of the parrot kind, two only, the bétet and selíndit, are found on Java. The peacock (merák), is very common in large forests. The number of distinct species of birds has been estimated not greatly to exceed two hundred, of which upwards of one hundred and seventy have been described, and are already con[Vol I Pg 58]tained in the collections made on account of the English East India Company.

The dorsal feathers of the white heron, and the vent feathers of the sándang láwé, are employed, as substitutes for ostrich feathers, by the natives, for plumes, &c. It is very rarely that the feathers of geese, &c. are employed for beds or pillows, the silky cotton of the kápok being preferred on account of its coolness. For ornamenting the arrows of the natives, the feathers of some of the falcon tribe are chiefly employed.

Among the interesting subjects which still remain open for search, are the habits and constitution of the hirundo esculenta, the small swallow which forms the edible nests, annually exported in large quantities from Java and the Eastern Islands for the Chinese market. These birds not only abound among the cliffs and caverns of the south coast of the island, but inhabit the fissures and caverns of several of the mountains and hills in the interior of the country. From every observation which has been made on Java, it has been inferred, that the mucilaginous substance, of which the nests are formed, is not, as has been generally supposed, obtained from the ocean. The birds, it is true, generally inhabit the caverns in the vicinity of the sea, as agreeing best with their habits, and affording them the most convenient retreats for attaching their nests to; but several caverns are found inland, at a distance of forty or fifty miles from the sea, containing nests similar to those on the shore. From many of their retreats along the southern coast, they have been observed to take their flight in an inland direction, towards the pools, lakes, and extensive marshes covered with stagnant water, as affording them abundance of their food, which consists of flies, mosquitoes, gnats, and small insects of every description. The sea that washes the foot of the cliffs, where they most abound, is almost always in a state of the most violent agitation, and affords none of those substances which have been supposed to constitute the food of the esculent swallow. Another species of swallow on this island forms a nest, in which grass or moss, &c. are merely agglutinated by a substance, exactly similar to that of which exclusively the edible nests consist. This substance, from whatever part of these regions the nests be derived, is essentially uniform, differing only in the colour, according to the relative[Vol I Pg 59] age of the nests. It exhibits none of those diversities which might be expected, if it were collected casually (like the mud employed by the martin, and the materials commonly employed in nest-making), and applied to the rocks. If it consisted of the substances usually supposed, it would be putrescent and diversified.

Dr. Horsfield thinks that it is an animal elaboration, perhaps a kind of secretion; but to determine its nature accurately, it should be carefully analyzed, the anatomy of the bird should be investigated, and its character and habits watched.

The kayman of the Dutch, the boáya of the Malays, and the bóyo or bájul of the Javans, which abounds along the shores and in the principal rivers of the island, resembles more the crocodile of Egypt than that of the Ganges, or the American alligator. The character of the lacerta crocodiles, as given in the Systema Naturæ, applies to the Javan crocodile, with this difference, that in the latter the two crests of the tail coalesce towards the extremity, in which respect it agrees with that of the Ganges; but its head and jaws are broad, and rounded. In its manners, habits, and destructive qualities, it resembles the largest animals of this genus. Next to the crocodile in size is the béwak of the Malays, or menyáwak or selíra of the Javans. It sometimes attains the length of six or seven feet, and lives near the banks of rivers and marshes. Its character agrees with those of the lacerta monitor. It is erroneously denominated the guana by Europeans. The eggs of this animal, as well as of the crocodile, are eaten by the natives, and the fat is collected for medical purposes. A small lizard, the búnglon of the Javans, is erroneously called the chameleon, in consequence of the property of changing its colour. It has the specific characters of the guana, but is much smaller, seldom exceeding eighteen or twenty inches in length. There are various other lizards.

Two varieties of the turtle, pényu and pényu kombang, are found in the seas surrounding Java. Both yield the substance called tortoise-shell, but they are seldom taken of sufficient size to render it valuable: the flesh is excellent. Another kind, of which the species is unknown, renders a thicker shell. Kúro is the name of the common land-tortoise, which is found very abundantly in particular districts.[Vol I Pg 60]

Besides the rana esculenta, green frog (kódok íjù of the Javans) which is frequently eaten, and the kódok benju, there is the common toad, kódok, and the bánkong and kíntel. The frog-fish (rana paradosa), or a variety of it, is also found on the island, and has been exhibited in the same supposed metamorphosis as in other countries. No noxious quality of any of these animals is here known.

It is uncertain whether the boa constrictor be found on Java. The serpent usually called the úlar sáwa is a species of coluber, and has been described in one of the volumes of the Batavian Transactions; but several other species are found which arrive at a very large size. One of them, the úlar lánang, is very much dreaded by the natives, and said to be poisonous. Of the úlar sáwa there are several varieties, one of which, úlar sáwa máchan, is most beautifully variegated. Upwards of twenty serpents are enumerated as poisonous. The úlar lámpe is found at or near the discharge of large rivers into the ocean, and is more abundant in some districts than in others. This is greatly dreaded by the natives; its bite however is rarely mortal, and the effects are comparatively slow, death seldom occurring within twenty-four hours from the time of its infliction. No remedies which deserve notice are known by the natives: charms and superstitious applications are generally resorted to. The most remarkable serpent is the úlar kádut, or kárang. The úlar lánang, and some of the varieties úlar sáwa are slender, and possess considerable agility. According to the account of the natives, they frequently ascend trees, and suspending themselves by the extremity of their tail, seize upon small animals passing below; but the true úlar sáwa of the Eastern Javans is slow, thick, and unwieldy. Nothing which could illustrate its supposed power of fascination has been noticed.

Of the fish most commonly used for food by the natives, many of which are excellent and abundant, thirty-four species of river fish, seven found chiefly in pools or stagnant waters, and sixteen sea fish, are already enumerated by Dr. Horsfield. The classes of amphibia and pisces, doubtless, afford many new subjects for investigation. Valentyn enumerates five hundred and twenty-eight uncommon kinds of fish found in the waters of the Eastern Islands.[Vol I Pg 61]

Honey and wax are produced by three species of bees, inhabiting the largest forests, but they are both collected in very inconsiderable quantities. Bees are occasionally domesticated by the Arabs and Indians near the large settlements, but never by the natives. Silk-worms were once introduced by the Dutch near Batavia, but attention to them did not extend among the natives. The chrysalis of the large atlas affords a coarse silk, which is however not collected for use. To the fruit, several insects, and to the corn while in the ear, a peculiar species, generally known by the name of wálang-sángít, are most destructive. The latter has in some years destroyed the growth of whole districts, and occasioned partial scarcity. The natives attempt, in some instances, to extirpate it by burning chaff and brimstone in the fields. There are scorpions and centipedes, but their bite is considered of little consequence: the natives generally apply a cataplasm of onions to the wound. The class of insects affords many new objects; specimens of most of the genus papilio, and many of other genera have already been collected.

Java does not afford the same opportunities for beautiful collections of shells as the Moluccas, Papua, and other Islands. Along the northern coast, few shells are found of beauty or variety, and the corallines have mostly lost their integrity by attrition; but the extensive bays in the southern shore contain many of these objects in a state of beauty and perfection.