144 SUMATRA COFFEES 



packages being usually marked with the initials of the 

 importer, underneath which is a letter or letters denoting 

 the district or plantation where grown. The average 

 annual production is about 100,000,000 pounds, of which 

 30,000,000 pounds is produced on private plantations. 



Sumatra known to the Arabians as Srimata (" the 

 happy"), lies to the northwest of Java, being separated 

 only from it by the narrow Sunda strait, and is much 

 richer in products than the latter island. The coffee- 

 plant was first introduced into Sumatra from Java, by the 

 Dutch, in the latter part of the eighteenth century, but 

 its cultivation made little or no progress on that island 

 until about the year 1800, when measures were taken by 

 the government to promote and stimulate its production 

 there, since which period there has been a rapid increase 

 in its output. The system of coffee cultivation is nearly 

 identical with that in Java, each native family being fur- 

 nished with seed by the government on condition that 

 they keep in good bearing order not less than 650 trees, 

 the crop, " if up to standard," being purchased by the 

 government, that is, taken, at an arbitrarily fixed price, 

 The coffee, after being inspected and accepted, is stored 

 in go-downs or warehouses adjacent to the districts ot 

 growth, until a sufficient quantity has been collected, 

 when it is transported to the ports of Padang or Ben- 

 koolen, where, after being duly advertised, it is sold 

 at auction, under the immediate supervision of the 

 officers of the Dutch government, the sales being held 

 quarterly during the months of March, June, September 

 and December, as in Batavia and Amsterdam. Latterly, 

 however, the cultivation of coffee in Sumatra has been 

 further encouraged by the government leasing or selling 



