172 CELEBES. [chap. 



were looking well, and there was no trace of disease of any 

 kind. 



After a slight ascent we rounded a sudden corner and the lake 

 of Tondano lay below us, a beautiful sheet of water about eight 

 miles long. The mist of the morning had cleared away, and the 

 view was lovely. Northwards a long stretch of yellow padi field 

 bounded the lake, which on the western side was shut in Ijy steep 

 hills clothed with thick jungle. A quick descent on a good road 

 brought us to the little village of Tata-aran Tomohon — hardly 

 longer than its name, and shortly before noon we drew up before a 

 pleasant-looking house, the residence of the Kontroleur of Tondano, 

 whose guests we were to be. 



Our host was a very handsome man of about five and thirty, 

 who had been specially appointed to the district by the Dutch 

 Government on account of his knowledge of coffee-planting. We 

 found him reading the " Eevue des Deux Mondes," and soon dis- 

 covered that his ideas were by no means exclusively centred in 

 coffee. Keenly interested in European aftairs, in politics, and in 

 art, he proved a most pleasant companion, and, by his kindness and 

 readiness to show us the district, made our visit a most agreeable 

 one. In addition to his own language he spoke Malay, Javanese, 

 and Tondano, besides English, French, and German, 



The coffee-tree was first introduced into the Minahasa district 

 in 1822, and thirty years later about five million trees had been 

 planted. It has been the means of converting the country from a 

 wilderness of jungle, peopled by head-huntmg savages, into a 

 well-cultivated garden tilled by natives who are almost without 

 exception Christians. Yet this result has been brought about by a 

 system which most Englishmen would condemn untried — that of 

 enforced labour. Any person of the peasant class not having a 

 trade is compelled by law to plant coffee. Each must, if required, 

 plant twenty-five trees every year, but the number depends on his 

 last year's production, and is regulated by the Kontroleur, who 

 can order him to plant more, or less, or none at all, according to 



