140 COMPENDIUiM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



established the greater part of the numerous plantations 

 of coffee, sugar, tobacco, tea, pepper, and other products 

 which cover the island. Of these, coffee alone is now 

 thus grown, and even here the " system " has been con- 

 siderably modified, no person being required to plant 

 more than fifty trees annually, and the labourers being 

 no longer called out en masse as was formerly the case. 

 The Government cultivation of sugar was given up in 

 1890. In 1882 it was decided to commute part of the 

 labour by the introduction of a capitation tax of one 

 florin, and it was found that the sum thus obtained was 

 larger than was required for carrying out the works pre- 

 viously performed by corvde. For road repair, however, 

 and various other minor duties, this system is still in 

 force, and will probably remain so for some time. 



From a European point of view, the " culture-system " 

 and its attendant corvie is no doubt indefensible. But 

 it should be remembered that what is suitable among 

 civilised nations is by no means always advisable in the 

 case of a people who are socially and educationally im- 

 mature. From time immemorial the natives of Java have 

 been accustomed to render labour service to their chiefs 

 and princes, and it is doubtful whether the substitution 

 of money-taxes will be in any way more acceptable to 

 them. The experiment of passing at one stride from 

 the feudalism of the Middle Ages to the civilisation of the 

 nineteenth century would not have been a wise one. 

 The method of paternal government adopted by the 

 Dutch has taught the people habits of steady industry 

 and the art of scientific farming, and whether it be 

 abolished now or retained for some years to come, it will 

 still have served good purpose in bridging over this gulf, 

 which with us has been filled up and effaced by many 

 centuries of time. Taxation and the free admission of 



