JAVA JAVA
dealings: very malicious, great deceivers, seldom speaking the tru th , Prepared to do
all manner of wickedness, and ready to sacrifice their lives. Among them are some
who if labouring under any dangerous malady, will make a vow to God, th a t if restored
to health they will choose a more honourable mode of death When recovered, these
persons will issue from their houses with dagger in hand. Then, they rush “ to the
^ ? h c s q u a r e s and kill all the p e r s o n s t h e y m e e t , h k e rabid dogs Vhese a r e ^ e d
nmulos iamoksl When they are seen in this fury, all begin to cry out
amulos so that people may protect themselves, and with knives and spears they
forthwith slay them. Of these Javanese, many dwell in the city with ^ e™ es
children, who have much wealth.” -Kamusio, Vol. i. p. 317. If this be a true repre
santation of the character of the Javanese in the beginning of the 16th century, an
considering the general accuracy of Barbosa, I am d i s p o s e d , making due all°wance
for some exaggeration, to think th a t it is, all that can be sard is, th a t three centuries
and a-half have wrought a great change in the character of this people.
That Java was a populous and civilised country for many ages hetore it was known
to Europeans that such a country existed, is a m .tte r easi y p ro - d . De Barroi,desc bes
the T ivanese at the arrival of the Portuguese, as what they still the J avanese at tne m n a ^ de ^ licia)r They werea tthe,e n ftohuen md ocsatr rcyiivnilg
on trade from Sumatra to the Moluccas; they furnished bread-corn and manufact
u r e s to the less advanced nations in return for their rude productions, and they had
effected conquests or settlements in Malacca, Palembang m Sumatra, and in the two
feTtile islands of Bali and Lomboc. In fact, it is certain that the Javanese were at
this time a far more civilised, probably even a more numerous people, than either
the Mexicans or Peruvians, who became known to Europe nearly a t the same time.
The essential part of Javanese civilisation is, I am satisfied, of native ongin, and
, P„ „ g up ¡ u t i S
S ' C K S S w“ “ irrigation. W .
may iudge that these were the fundamental causes of the social advancement o Java
find that wherever similar facilities exist, as m the islands of Bali and
Lomboc and in a portion of the volcanic interior of Sumatra, a similar, although not
has sprung up ; whereas in countries destitute of them, as Borneo,
the^eople, although of the same race, and enjoying nearly th e same climate, are m a
VeWithdt h r exIeptionaof th fpTo p le of Bali and Lomboc, the Javanese are the only
natkm of the Archipelago th a t can be said to be almost exclusively agricultural With
+1 nf the fishermen of the northern coast, and a very small proportion of
artisans the computed ten millions of the population of the island is directly or mdi-
rectlvXngaged in agriculture, and have made a respectable progress in i t ; for their
husblndrXTequal, if not superior to th a t of any Asiatic people, the Chinese excepted
This is evinced by the neatness and cleanness of the fields, by toe good condition of
the cattle by attention to the seasons of sowing and reaping; but above all, by a
i - i f i n which consists the chief improvement m all warm countries, and
skilful irrigation, in consists of rice. To regulate the processes
especially m those, m wfficnjnejn ^ ^ ^ ^ This 0?n ist3 of
° 360 davs beginning with the winter solstice of the southern hemisphere m
d f Tune and divided into twelve seasons of unequal length, varying from
^ t o 6 « f a y s “¿ h L w t c f t L times for clearing and preparing the land - o f sowing,
23 to 41 days eacn 1 . the different crops are detailed. The native terms by
which th e T e ^ s ^ are named!arf, for the most part, the ordinal numbers of the verna-
Tular languaS!while the adaptation of the seasons to the latitude of Java sufficiently
!w t this calendar is a Javanese invention, and not borrowed from strangers,
show th a t this concerned, multiplies the productive powers
ooif tthhee® ssaammee ssoo ii l f r o m five t|.o ten-fol'd, ac^co grducinhg a tno etxhtee nabt umn dJaanvac>e othf awt attheer, maanjdo rtihtye
o fth e arable lL d o f the island consists of it, remaining thus a permanent inheritance
, ., . The perennial streams and rivers, as they descend from the
mountains ate by means of embankments and trenches, diverted into small fields
Bur rounded by low dikes, which can be flooded or drained a t pleasure. The process
Bunounaeu o y u , expensive and laborious, but when once formed, they
are easily preserved. These watered lands are known by the native name of sawah,
,. ,. - l 11 from drv-field known by the names of tagal and umah, all which
language of Java, are found in all those of the
western parts ofthe Archipelago.
JAVA
When the water for irrigated lands is sufficiently abundant and continuous, two
crops of rice are raised within the year, and in some cases even three within eighteen
months, for the sun is hot enough to ripen rice in every season. In such cases, too,
the husbandman may follow his convenience as to the time of sowing, and he does so,
for in contiguous fields may frequently be seen sowing and reaping rice, with every
intermediate stage of the growth of the plant. When the water is not sufficiently
copious for two rice crops, the corn is sown in the wet or hot season, and m the dry,
or cold, crops considered of secondary value are produced, such as pulses, oil-giving
plants and cotton. No manure is ever applied to irrigated lands, nor are fallows
practised ; but notwithstanding this, the system of cropping now described has been
going on for ages, and, apparently, without diminution in the fertility of the land.
The soil itself is, no doubt, of eminent fertility, but the water evidently goes for
more than the soil. , . , , .
Dry or upland arable, compared to irrigated land, is of small value ; indeed, in
unfavourable situations such is its abundance, that it is not worth appreciation. On
the best dry lands rice is occasionally grown without the help of water, but more
generally dry lands are used for such crops as pulses, oil-giving plants, cotton, sugarcane,
and tobacco, and, at present, on the mountain-slopes, at an elevation of two
and three thousand feet, for coffee.
In the most fertile parts of Java, and these from the neighbourhood of the high
mountains, are usually, also, the most picturesque, the scenery is at once agreeable
and magnificent, and certainly for grandeur and beauty excels all that I have seen,
even in Italy, that country which, in summer, bears the nearest resemblance to Java.
In such situations we have mountains ten thousand feet high, cultivated to half
their height, the valleys below having all the appearance of a well-watered garden, in
which the fruit trees are so abundant as to conceal the closely packed villages.
When Java first became known to Europeans, its principal agricultural products
were rice, pulses, sesame, ground-pea, and other oil-giving plants, indigo and cotton,
with palms and indigenous fruits. European intercourse has added to these, two
products of America, maiz and tobacco, and one of Arabia, or rather of Africa, coffee.
The quantity of its great staple, rice, which it produces, can only be estimated. The
statistical returns of the Netherland Government give the produce for some of the
provinces only, so that no general view can be exhibited for the whole island. With the
exception of a small quantity of maiz, rice is the only bread-corn of all the Javanese ;
and therefore, if we take the consumption per head at a quarter, or 448 lbs., this, on a
computed population of ten millions, will make the total annual produce the same
number of quarters. The export is, at present, too inconsiderable, materially to affect
this computation, for in 1848 it amounted to no more than 217,000 quarters.
From the first appearance of Europeans, and no doubt for many ages before
it, Java was the great granary of the other countries of the Archipelago. This
fact is attested by De Barros, in so far as concerns Malacca, and the countries
in its neighbourhood. He tells us truly that the territory of Malacca is naturally
sterile ; and that through an interruption of the communication with Java,
a famine ensued almost immediately after the Portuguese capture. “ At this time,’*
says he, “ on account of the troops that had come from India, and because the junks
did not arrive from Java, which alone brought provisions to the city, the Laksi-
mana, (the Malay admiral), intercepting them on the way, the town began to be in such
want of them that our people were reduced to one meal a day, and this consisting
of a very small quantity of rice boiled in water. And the famine was so great
among the Moors, aud other people of the land, that the poor were found dead in
the streets ; and those who escaped death by famine were killed by tigers in the
woods, where these poor people had betaken themselves in search of wild fruits.
The famine, indeed, was so great, that it produced a truce, for both parties were
more intent on seeking food than on fighting. What led to this was, that the
monsoon was adverse for our sending for provisions to Java, as Malacca and all
the neighbouring countries depend on that island for them.”—-Decade n. Book vi., c. 2.
Java continued from its first discovery, until within a few years back, to be the
granary of the Archipelago; but the extensive culture by corvée labour of such
products as sugar, coffee, and indigo, under an idle and pernicious hypothesis that
some peculiar commercial advantage to the state belonged to their culture, has
greatly interfered with the production of com. The export of it has consequently
diminished, and the price materially risen ; the consequence of which has been,
that countries immemorially supplied by it, now draw their com from other countries,
such as Bali, Lomboc, Siam, and Arraccan.