POPULATION OF THE MINAHASSA. 339 



into burgers or " free citizens," and inlanders or " na- 

 tives," who are obliged to work a certain number of 

 days in the coffee-gardens belonging to the govern- 

 ment. The total population of the Minahassa in 

 this year (1866), as fui^nished me by the Resident 

 from the oificial documents, is 104,418,* and the 

 marked degi*ee of variation in the population of this 

 country, where the natives have never been a mari- 

 time people, is worth more than a passing notice, 

 because it shows in some degree the beneficial effect 

 of a stable government, and how the natives are 

 sometimes swept away by disease. In 1800, accord- 

 ing to Valentyn, the population was 24,000, though 

 he gives the nimiber of able men at only 3,990. 

 In 1825 it was 73,000 ; in 1842, 93,332 ; in 1853, 

 99,588. In 1854 a great mortality appeared, and 

 the population was diminished to 92,546, no less 

 than 12,821 persons, or about one-seventh of the 

 population, having died in a single year. In the 

 district of Amurang the loss was as high as 22| 

 per cent. The principal diseases are fevers and dys- 

 entery. The population of the Minahassa, as com- 

 pared to its area, 14,000 English square miles, is by 

 no means large. The island of Madura, which is of 

 about the same extent, has more than five times as 

 large a population ; and the residency of Surabaya, 

 also of about the same extent, contains more than 

 ten times as many people. The natives directed me 

 to the major's residence, which I found to l)e a small 

 but neat and well-painted house, built in European 



* This number is divided according to nationalities as follows : Euro 

 poans, 550; natives, 102,423; Cliinese, 1,434; Arabs, 11. 



