58 CULTIVATION OF COFFEE IN VARIOUS COUNTRIES. 



what was written of the cruelties and sufferings of American 

 slavery, as described in Uncle Tom's Cabin, are nothing in 

 comparison to the sufferings from the system of forced labor in 

 the Indies. It is full of eccentricities, and the characters in- 

 troduced are original and amusing ; among others a Mr. Dry- 

 stubble is described as the type of a Dutch coffee-broker, who 

 knows all about coffee, and makes his life subservient to his 

 vocation. It bears evidence throughout of having been written 

 by a genius of that order which only appears at intervals, and 

 it serves to throw some little light on the habits of the millions 

 of natives who dwell in the islands of the Indian Ocean, where 

 so large a portion of our supplies of coffee are obtained. 



Of late years there has been a growing desire to know more 

 about the great coffee-producing districts in Java and Sumatra. 

 The opening of the Pacific Railroad and the successful opera- 

 tion of the submarine cables have done much to bring about 

 more frequent communication with these important countries. 

 American merchants have not been slow in availing themselves 

 of the advantages in becoming better acquainted with those 

 who have established important houses in the East Indies, and 

 the writer is particularly indebted to Mr. Charles Dunlop, of 

 Singapore, and Mr. John Peet, of Batavia, for much valuable 

 information concerning the cultivation of coffee. Both of these 

 gentlemen recently visited this country, and from their exten- 

 sive experience they were enabled to give to those interested in 

 the importation of coffee many interesting details concerning 

 the manners and customs of the natives, and how the great 

 traffic with the interior \vas conducted by their respective 

 houses for their foreign constituents. 



o 



ISTot far from Ayar-Bangis is the port to which the coffee 

 raised in the valley of Rau, in the interior, is brought down, 

 to be hence shipped in praus to Padang, where it is placed 

 in the government storehouses and sold at auction four times 



