CHAPTER VII.
JAVA.
T SPENT three months and a half in Java, from July
18th to October 31st, 1861, and shall briefly describe
my own movements, and my observations on the people
and the natural history of the country. To all those who
wish to understand how the Dutch now govern Java, and
how it is that they are enabled to derive a large annual
revenue from it, while the population increases, and the
inhabitants are contented, I recommend the study of
Mr. Money’s excellent and interesting work, “ How to
Manage a Colonv,” The main facts O o and conclusions of that
work I most heartily concur in, and I believe that the
Dutch system is the very best that can he adopted, when
a European nation conquers or otherwise acquires possession
of a country inhabited by an industrious but semi-
barbarous people. In my account of Northern Celebes, I
shall show how successfully the same system has been
applied to a people in a very different state of civilization
from the Javanese ; and in the meanwhile will state in
the fewest words possible what that system is.
The mode of government now adopted in Java is to
retain the whole series of native rulers, from the village
chief up to princes, who, under the name of Regents, are
the heads of districts about the size of a small English
county. With each Regent is placed a Dutch Resident,
or Assistant Resident, who is considered to be his “ elder
brother,” and whose “ orders” take the form of “ recommendations,”
which are however implicitly obeyed. Along
with each Assistant Resident is a Controller, a kind of
inspector of all the lower native rulers, who periodically
visits every village in the district, examines the proceedings
of the native courts, hears complaints against the
head-men or other native chiefs, and superintends the
Government plantations. This brings us to the “ culture
system,” which is the source of all the wealth the Dutch
derive from Java, and is the subject of much abuse in this
country because it is the reverse of “ free trade.” To
understand its uses and beneficial effects, it is necessary
first to sketch the common results of free European trade
with uncivilized peoples.
Natives of tropical climates have few wants, and, when
these are supplied, are disinclined to work for superfluities
without some strong incitement. With such a people the
introduction of any new or systematic cultivation is almost