The Cultivation System. 263 



induce them to do work which they may not altogether like, 

 but which we knoAv to be an indispensable step in their moral 

 and physical advancement. The Dutch have shown much 

 good policy in the means by which they have done this. They 

 have in most cases iipheld and strengthened the authority of 

 the native chiefs, to whom the peojile have been accustomed 

 to render a voluntary obedience ; and by acting on the intelli- 

 gence and self-interest of these chiefs, have brought about 

 changes in the manners and customs of the people, which 

 would have excited ill-feeling and perhaps revolt, had they 

 been directly enforced by foreigners. 



In carrying out such a system, much depends upon the 

 character of the people; and the system which succeeds ad- 

 mirably in one place could only be very partially worked out 

 in another. In Minahasa the natural docility and intelligence 

 of the race have made their progress rapid ; and how import- 

 ant this is, is well illustrated by the fact that in the immedi- 

 ate vicinity of the town of Menado are a tribe called Banteks, 

 of a much less tractable disj)osition, who have hitherto resist- 

 ed all efforts of the Dutch Government to induce them to 

 adopt any systematic cultivation. These remain in a ruder 

 condition, but engage themselves willingly as occasional por- 

 ters and laborers, for which their greater strength and activi- 

 ty well adapt them. 



Xo doubt the system here sketched seems open to serious 

 objection. It is to a certain extent despotic, and interferes 

 with fi-ee trade, free labor, and free communication. A na- 

 tive can not leave his village without a pass, and can not en- 

 gage himself to any merchant or captain without a Govern- 

 ment permit. The coffee has all to be sold to Government, 

 at less than half the price that the local merchant would give 

 for it, and he consequently cries out loudly against " monopo- 

 ly " and " oppression." He forgets, however, that the coffee- 

 plantations were established by the Government at great out- 

 lay of capital and skill ; that it gives free education to the 

 people, and that the monopoly is in lieu of taxation. He for- 

 gets that the product he wants to purchase and make a profit 

 by, is the creation of the Government, without whom the 

 people would still be savages. He knows very well that free 

 trade would, as its first result, lead to the importation of 



