expensive .part of .the ='cultivator^ stock,' .The price oF,a .draught .ox* tin
the; centj-al .and eastern districts, in which'they .are more generally used
in agriculture (varies from eight to sixteen .rupees, or from twenty to % ty
shillings English) and a .cow may be purchased £6j: about thp^sa^rne- price.
Either from-the luxuriance of the.pasture, the greater care of the.husband-
. man, or,apiore.equal climate, .bqthfhe.buffalo and ,t]he .ox .are .usually.in
better condition (on Java than in many parts ofi Indian indeed,, ..those
.miserable .half-starved looking animals, with which, some ■ pf i e fpfoVjhces
.of jBengal abound, are never seen in this island, except, perhaps/ occasionally,
income of the few herds belonging to Europeans’, ip .the vicinity
of -Batavia.
Buffaloes, however, more than other domestic animals, are-subject W an
epidemic disease, the symptoms.and nature of which have-no^penWitW^o
• carefully noted, or .satisfactorily explained. -It prevails . throughout the/whole
island, and generally re-appears-after an interval of'.three, .four/or five
yiafs j it makes great ravages in the stock of the peasantry» and is checked
in. its progress by no remedies whijcfi.have hitherto Wem'd%WWd .or
applied: tit is of an infections, nature, aqcL .excites great alarm when it
appears: it; hears different names in different parts of tithe island. As the
- -bull -and cow -are .not fiable .to- this- disease ; and as, ,in additioWtio this
advantage, they are less expensive, in their’ original' purchase, they are
preferred byjpany of the natives. ;
; .Eor draugbt,;.the buffalo and.cow are .employed; and. for .burden, .tire
horse.(particularly .mares) and the o x . / ln lev^dstricts, and In good
roads, ihe.use .of .the latter is preferred. The usual’burden -of a horse/is
rather less.than three hundred weight, and that of .an ox rather more than
four ; but in; mountainous districts, and sphere the'roads are neglected, Wne
half oF.this weight is considered as.a sufficient, if not an.-exijessive load. '
The-comparatively higher price of cattle; on Java .than in Bengal has
been accounted, for. from, the demand for them as food, and.the absence of
extensive commons.on which;to,feed them!
toptementstf When implements df husbandry are mentioned in British agriculture*
miDg‘ many expensive instruments and complicated machinery suggest themselves
to those acquainted with its practical details,. From thq preparation of the
ground for receiving,the seed, till the grain comes into the .hands of the
mifleri labour is. economized -and produce increased, by many ingemoua
processes and artful contrivances, of which a^ Javan could form no conception.'