Feb, 1, i886,j 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



55i 



NOTES OF A VISIT TO THE DUTCH GOV- 



KRNMENT CINCHONA PLANTATIONS IN 



JAVA.* 



BY HENRY B. BRADY, F. K. S. 

 On the 7th of May of the present year, the British 

 Indian Mail steamer " Merkara," bouiul from Brisbane 

 to London, with a full complement of passengers, of 

 whom I chanced to be one, entered from the south- 

 ern side the narrow sea which separates Java from 

 the ueighbouriug island of Bali. Six years previously 

 I had passed almost within sight of the northern 

 shores of Java, but with scanty time at my disposal; 

 and it had been judged better to leave the country 

 unseen than to invite the disappointment certain to 

 result from a very hurried visit. This conclusion 

 had in the intenal been a frequent source of regret, 

 but the omission was one which there was now the 

 opportunity to repair. 



It was early morning; and as we approacfced the 

 narrower portion of the Strait the scenery of the 

 coast to east and west became more and more strik- 

 ing and beautiful. To the right were the shores of 

 Bali gently sloping to the sea, backed by a mount- 

 ain-range, whose summits reached a height of 6,000 or I 

 7,11X1 feet. But the chief interest lay on the western 

 side, where Mount Kawon, Mount Idjcn, and two or 

 three other mighty volcanic cones, the highest of 

 them towering to upwards of 10,000 feet, seemed I 

 close upon us. In the foregromul little clusters of ; 

 red-tiled bamboo cottages nestled amongst the palm- ' 

 trees at the water's edge, aud the sun-lit rippling 

 sea between, studded with gaily paiuted native fish- , 

 ing boats, of build aud rigging strange to the European [ 

 eye, served to complete an almost ideal tropical 

 picture. 



I liad obtained leave to land at Banjoewaugi, the 

 easternmo-st point of Java; and the Captain, with 

 his wonted kindness, had further offered to facilitate i 

 my movements by taking my heavier baggage forward 

 to Batavia, my intention being to travel overland, I 

 in order to see as much as possible of the interior | 

 of the Island. i 



• • » • 



Intending to make some stay in the Capital on my 

 return, I proceeded thence almost immediately to 

 Buitensiorg, a little town among the raouutaius, forty 

 miles south, the chief health resort of the Batavians 

 and the usual rcidence of the Governor-General of 

 the Dutch East Indies and his staff. My letters of 

 introduction had been forwarded in advance, and 

 I had hardly entered the Hotel before I received an 

 intimation from the aide-de-camp on duty that I was 

 to have the honour of a s[)ecial audience at the. Palace 

 the same morning. I was received by his Excellency 

 with great kindness, and the interview was m every 

 way .satisfactory. lu the course of conversation, which 

 happily for me was iu Kngli.sh, I mentioned one or 

 two objects I had at heart— foremost amongst them 

 my desire to visit the (iovernnient Cinchona plant- 

 ations iu the Prcanger ; and, on leaving, tiis Excellency 

 was good enough to furnish me with a private letter 

 to his son-in-law, Mr. Van Gelderen Stort, the .Secret- 

 ary of the Preanger Regency, in addition to the 

 usual formal papei-s. I ha^l heard it said that the 

 Cinchona plantations and the various experiments in 

 culture carried on by the Colonial Government were 

 guarded with a certain amount of jealousy, ami I should 

 not have been surprised ha*l I experienced some 

 ditficulty in accomplishing what I wished. Nothing 

 could be further from the fact ; and I may here be 

 allowed to express my grateful acknowledgment of 

 the courtesy and consideration that the English tra- 

 veller in Java experiences at the hands of the Dutch 

 officials of every grade. 



The Preanger, the district in which the fiovern- 

 ment Cinchona estates are situated, is a mountainous 

 region in the south-wet of Java, only sejtarafed from 

 the Strait of 8unda by the little kingdom of Bantam. 



* Read at an evening meeting of the Pharmiceutical 

 ■Society. AVednesday, December 9, 1885. 

 70 



I Politically, it i« a distinct Regency, the capital 

 ! Bandong, being the seat of a Regent or native ruler 

 '. and of a Dutch Resilient. The people arc Sundanese, 

 I one of the three Malay races of which the popul- 

 I ation of Java is made up ; but with something moro 

 I than tile usual admixture of Arabs, and a considerable 

 j number of Chinese, The short line of railway origln- 

 f ally connecting Batavia and Buiteuzorg has been of 

 I late years extended almost through the Regency, and 

 ' will, it is hoped, ere long form a junction with the 

 eastern lines, aud thus complete the iutaud railway 

 system, 



Buiteuzorg itself is a fascinating place,— landscape 

 and climate alike irresistible; and iu addition to its 

 natural attractions it possesses a far-famed Botanical 

 Ganieu which is at once the most extensive and 

 most instructively arraiiged, and perhaps on the whole 

 the most beautiful, of any within the tropics. Once 

 more I am tempted to diverge, unwilling to pasg 

 without notice the numberless plants interesting to 

 us from their pharmaceutical or economic associations, 

 whose acquaintance, living and growing, I either made 

 there for the first time, or had the opportunity of 

 renewing. But again I am reminded that this is not 

 our present business. 



The geo^'raphy aud character of the Island of Java 

 seem U> be very little known iu this country, and I 

 may ther,'fore mention the following particulars. The 

 island itself is about one-third larger than Ireland, 

 and it is, I think, with the exception of Belgium, 

 the mo.st thickly populated country iu the world, 

 baring a population iu this small area of upwards 

 of 20,000, IKHI Batavia is the lagest and most popul- 

 ous town iu the southern hemisphere, having a popul- 

 ation of something like .500,000,* and spreading over 

 an enormous area. The only city at all comparable 

 with it is Melbourne, which with its suburbs has a 

 populatinn of 3(H),000 or3t;0,000. The island of Java 

 is about 600 miles long and varies iu breadth frem 

 40 to 120 miles. 



After one or two cursory visits to the Gardens in 

 company with their indetatigable Director, Dr. Treub, 

 I determined to take my departure for the Prcanger 

 at onc(', leaving their more detiviled examination 

 until my return. Acconlingly, ou the 1st of June, 

 I took train for Bandong, where I found comfort- 

 able quarters at the little local hotel. Having made 

 the needful calls and presented my letters, I accepted 

 an appointed with Mr. Van den Bergh, the Oou- 

 troleur of the Regency, for the evening of the same 

 day, and was very kindly introduced by him to Mr. 

 U. Van Romunde, the Director of the Cinchona 

 Plantations — the successor in that office to the well- 

 known quinologist, Dr. .J. 0. B. Moens. In the course 

 of conversation (nearly all the Dutch officials speak 

 excellent English) Mr, Van Romunde very kindly 

 offered that, if I would stay in Bandong for a day 

 or two, he would make the needful arrangements, 

 aud would himself accompany me to two of the es- 

 tablishments under his charge; whereupon the genial 

 ("outroleur suggested that he also should be included 

 in the party : ami so it was settlt-d, all trouble in 

 the matter being taken out of my hands. 



Bandong is situated in the midst of a wide plain about 

 2,000 feet above sea-level, bounded by mountain ranges 

 to north and south. The localities selecteil for Cin- 

 chona cultivation are on the southern aspects of these 

 opposing ridges. There are altogether eight tJovern- 

 ment plantations, four of about 200 acres each, two 

 of 1.50 acres, one of 100, and one of 70 acres, total, 

 say about 1,270 acres. One of the estates lies at an 

 altitude of aliout 6,00ft feet above the sea, and fitur 

 at about 5,000 feet, the remainder are somewhat lower. 

 Six out of the eight are on the southern group of 

 mountains, that is to say, on the sides of I\Iount 

 Malawar and the adjacent Wajang, Tiloe, and Patoeha. 

 .Some, if not all of these were visited by Mr. 11. O. 

 Forbes in 1880; my own experience do(;s not extend 

 to that particular region. The expeilition planned 

 for me was to the two northern plantations, those 



» We should say about 200,000.— Ed, 



