other public^services; and thus a great portion ©f the,effective hands .were
taken from, their families* and detained at a .distance from,home, in labours
which broke their spirit and exhausted,their strength. During the.adminis-.
tration of Marshal Daendals, it has, been calculated that the construction of
public roads alone,- destroyed, the lives pf at least ten thousand workmen.
The'.transport of government. stores, and thei capricious . requisitions. of.
government agents of all classes, perpetually harassed, and frequently carried
off. numbers of the people. - If to these .drains we. add,the waste'pf life'igqea-
sioned by insurrections, which tyranny and impolicy excited and fomented
in Chdribon, the blighting effects of the coffee monopoly, and forced services
in the Priang'en «Regencies,. and the still morelilgaolating operation of the.
policy pursued and consequent anarchy produced in the.province of Bantam,
we shall have some idea of the depopulating causes that existed under the
Dutch administration, and ihd force , of that tendency to increase, which
could overcome obstacles so powerful.
Most of these drains and checks were removed during the . short,
period of British administration} but “it is to be regretted (sofar;astaccu-,
rate data on this subject would be desirable) that, there, was .not time -to,
learn satisfactorily the^rqsult of a different system, or., to institute the
proper registers, by which alone .questions ofipopulation can .be deterr
mined. The' only document of that kind,. to, which I can venture..to refer
as authentic,^ is^ a statement of .the births and deaths that'occurred, (in| the
given general population of the Priang’en Regencies , for one. year. From
this account it would appear, that even ip.these Regencies, where-,: if we
except Batavia, the checks -to population are allowed to be /greater . than
the births were to the total existing population as 1 to .39, and
the deaths as 1 to 40 veiy-nearly; that the births exceed the deathsJby,6l.8,
*n a population of 232,000, and that, at that rate,) the,,
population would double itself in three hundred and seventy-five years. A
slow increase, certainly, compared with England, where the births, in the
three years ending 1800, were to the persons alive as 1 in 36, and the. deaths
as 1 to 49,. and where, consequently, the nation would double itself in ope,
hundred and sixty years (or taking the, .enumeration, of .1811 as more
correct, where the population would, be doubled, in .eighty years): hut
not much slower than that of France,.- where, according to the statements
of numbers ip j 7Q0 and 1790, about threerhundred years would be required,
to
to 'double : the. ■inhabitants. It< haS^beenbestimated -that the population.1 f c
soma; more favourable tdistricts.twould double itself ins-fiftyyears.’ One
inference cannot fail, .to :be drawn’ frdôL thë^registeis to which .1 have referred
; itliaMthe ,birfchs. and -deaths,’^though .they mearly approach each-other,!
ar,e -lowr-Compa-red-with the existing:numbersr}i-.and.that, consequently,-the’
climate ÜS healthy, and the marriages notivefy prolific; -as;far; as.fthisIddstrict-
isjConCerned., -
In.>tkesabsep.ce^ .of authentic documents, ! which whüld have: enâbleeLius; to.
resolve .many, interesting ■ questions regarding- the1 p o p u l a t i o n ' , a f the"
number pfichildren, to a marriage,- the 'ordinary-'length; of-life', the»Jpropb@|
tiopapf children ,that=„ die ■ in..infancy and at ithe:■ other, .stages! ofdife," -the!
ratio-, between1; the; births and deaths and ; theconsequent ’ rate. -of «increase, 3
the^effe,ct of, polygamy, and- multiplied divorfeds; -fhe. comparative- healthiness,
of the towns,and\Jkhe-;villàges, and .several’ others,V-I shall' sfcâtë’a few-oh-:
sbryations on -some-of-fhese. heads, and a few facts tending ttolshew, that
under a .better;:systemipf,government, or bytheremoval o£:a few'kffhthe:
checks, that previously existed,-• Java. might, in a shortitime,! be .expected,
tpcbe hefcter-peopled.
The{;Soil-;is in general extremely fertile, and can;"be 'broùghtfto" yields
its produce-with little labour. Many of; the-best, spots still .remain nun-1
cultivated, band several, districts are almost desert; and : neglected, „ which
might be 'the. seats of ,a-jcro.wdedi and I Happy peasantry."«” "In many, 'plac'esf
tjhe land does not re«piire”to-'be«.cleared, ■ as .in' America; -'from fhe overgrown’
vegetation of, primeval, forests,-;but .offers itsasemeevito'. the4 husbandman,
almost free-frpm;eyieiy--pbstructipn-.to his immediate-labours.-".. The agricultural;
life' in,-’which .fife ; mass of;.the people ,'àrfif engagedf .is on Java,
as in evesy other, .country, . the .most favourable, to ; health. c.It not’ oillyl
favours,the longevity,of the existing.race,■ but, conduces to its1 more’rapid
renewal,.. by leading :to% early marriages and a numer.ous;progeny.' .The term
of;]ife is not much-, shorter .than in the best .climateâîof «Europe. A. vëfy.
c.Qnsiderahle,ntimber.of persons of both sexes.-attain the.advanced, âge;of
seventy; or eighty, and some, even live <to one hundred, and upwards; nearly*
the^same proportion survive forty -and fifty, as in other genial climates. .
While; life, is.thus healthy . and.prolonged, ; there. areino restraints upon the
formation^; of s family connexions,- hv- -the scarcity ■’of ? RiiIiststeridH . nr : the-
labpur.of| supporting.çhildren. • Both-sexes- arrivè./at maturity. ; very - early,-
and
Encouragements
to
'population.