192 Voyage of the Novara. 



Java and Madura, is agriculture, which with them is at least 

 equally, if not in a much higher degree, understood by 

 them than by any other Asiatic community, with the 

 exception of the Chinese. This is apparent from the neatness 

 and careful cultivation of their fields, the excellent condition 

 of their farm-stock, the careful observance of seed-time and 

 harvest, and above all by their regular irrigation of the soil. 

 When Java first became known to Europeans, the chief pro- 

 duce of the island consisted of rice, leguminous vegetables, 

 indigo, and cotton. Intercourse with Europe has superadded 

 to these two American products, maize and tobacco, and one 

 African, coffee.* The Javanese have even less time for the 

 mechanical arts than for agricultural pursuits, yet in the 

 construction of boats and dwelling-houses, as also in making 

 agricultural implements, shields and weapons of war, they 

 have more aptitude than the majority of the people of the 

 Malay Archipelago, f The only other stuff, except cotton, of 

 which they make clothing is silk, chiefly the raw, coarse, 

 Chinese silk ; all endeavours to naturalize the silk production 

 in these islands having failed hitherto. 



* Still the chief article of cultivation ifi rice, which constitutes almost the sole 

 bread-stuff of the Javanese, Crauford in his admirably digested dictionary of the 

 Indian Archipelago calculates that the annual rice crop is about 500,000,000 lbs., 

 and that each individual consumes annually one quarter, or 480 lbs. ! 



t For some extremely beautiful and costly weapons used by the Malay races we 

 are especially indebted to Mr. J. Netscher, one of the directors of the Society of Arts 

 and Sciences, a profound scholar in the various idioms spoken in Java, and who on 

 the same occasion enriched our collections with some of his own valuable numis- 

 matic specimens and philological researches, and to this day neglects no opportunity 

 of advancing the special objects of our Expedition. 



