630 



JAVA. 



Java. The trade in certain articles, such a opium, camphor, 

 *-'' benzoin, rnlin (a sort of Indian metal, ) pewter, iron, salt- 

 Commerce, petre, gunpowder, &c. was, under the Dutch, reserved 

 exclusively for the company, and the opportunities of 

 gain by private trade have been gradually decreasing 

 since the middle of last century. The principal exports 

 from Java have been already noticed under the head of 

 its productions; but the greater portion of the articles 

 imported from other eastern countries, may be con- 

 sidered as intended more for future exportation, than 

 for the use of the island. From Bengal are brought 

 patnas, blue cloths, and other stuffs, drugs and opium ; 

 from different ports in Sumatra, camphor of the best 

 quality, benzoin, calin, elephants teeth, and birds- 

 nests ; * from Borneo, gold-dust, diamonds, and birds- 

 nests; from Europe, kersymeres, cloths, hats, gold- 

 .wire, silver, galloon, stationery, wine, beer, dollars ; 

 from Muscat, dollars and gum-arabic ; from the Isle of 

 France, olive-oil, wine, vinegar, hams, cheese, soap, 

 trinkets, ebony, mercery; from the Cape of Good 

 Hope, garden-seeds, butter, Madeira, and Constantia 

 wines ; from China, immense quantities of porcelain, 

 and silks of every kind ; from Japan, camphor, fans, 

 articles of furniture, sabres of an excellent temper, and 

 ingots of fine copper for common coinage to pay the 

 troops. 



Money. Money, especially of gold, is very scarce at Java ; 



and the current coins are a mixture of Dutch and In- 

 dian pieces, of which the following Table gives the 

 value in sterling money, at the par -exchange of eleven 

 francs per pound. 



The old Japan gold coupang 

 The new ditto 

 The milled Dutch ducat . 

 The silver-milled ducatoon 

 The unmilled ditto 

 The Spanish dollar or piastre from 



to 



The rix dollar . . , 

 The Batavia rupee . 

 Other rupees about , . 



There are likewise half-rupees, quarter rupees, and 

 fanams, equal to one-twelfth of a rupee. There are 

 copper coins issued by the Company, particularly the 

 stiver, of which eighty-eight are equal to a rupee; two. 

 penny pieces, equal to two stivers ; and doits or far- 

 things. The rix-dollar, equal to 48 stivers, is the mo- 

 ney chiefly used in private trade ; and the milled silver 

 ducatoon, equal to 66 stivers, was the current coin of 

 the Company through their Indian possessions. A pa- 

 per currency, issued by General Daendels during the 

 late war, and termed Porbolingo paper, was common 

 in the island at the time of its capture by the British, 

 but was by them tended to be gradually called in and 

 abolished. 



Most merchants goods are calculated by the picol of 

 one hundred and twenty-five pounds Amsterdam weight, 

 which is subdivided into a hundred cattis, each weigh- 

 ing one pound and a quarter. Sugar is taken in canas- 

 sers of three picols, or 375 pounds each ; coffee, in bags 

 of 252 pounds; and cinnamon, in bales of eighty. Rice 

 and other grain is measured by coyangs, which must 

 weigh, when originally purchased by the Company, 3500 

 pounds ; but which, by deductions for dust, drying, 

 perquisites to the warehouse keepers, and other hands 



Weights 

 and mea- 



through which they pass, are finally reduced, when the Java. 

 article reaches the consumer, to 3000 pounds. There v -" -/"' 

 is also a small rice measure of 1 3^ Ibs. called ganting. 



The general population of Java has been variously Inhabitant* 

 estimated ; by Valentyn at 3,300,000; by the gentle- 

 men of Lord Macartney's embassy in 1792, at 2,300,000; 

 by a census, said to have been taken by General Daen- 

 dels, in 1808, the returns, exclusive of the south coast, 

 exceeded 3,000,000 ; and by the latest surveys of the 

 British, there are supposed to be 5,000,000 of persons 

 on the island. The inhabitants, especially around Ba- 

 tavia, are composed of various tribes ; but principally 

 of native Javanese, Malays, Chinese, and slaves. 



The Javanese live in a state of absolute slavery to the Javanese, 

 native princes, except that they are not transferred by 

 sale from one master to another. The form of govern- 

 ment among them is perfectly despotic, and the power 

 of the prince in every sense uncontrolled. His will is 

 literally the law, and is restricted by no regular insti- 

 tutions, either civil or religious. There are no heredi- 

 tary distinctions or ranks among the people ; but, by 

 the mere authority of the monarch, the humblest may 

 be raised to the chief dignities, and the highest degrad- 

 ed to the state of the meanest subject. They have no 

 security in their property, or power to dispose of it, 

 farther than the sovereign may permit. The land, par- 

 ticularly, is his exclusive property ; and, in place of sa- 

 laries to the officers of government, portions of ground 

 are allotted and revoked at pleasure. Neither grant nor 

 occupation can convey to a subject the remotest claim 

 to permanent possession ; but large tracts of territory 

 are frequently given one day, and resumed the next ; 

 and scarcely an instance occurs of lands being held by 

 the heirs of those who occupied them 30 years ago. 

 The poorest peasant is not even at liberty to dispose of 

 the fruits of his own industry at his own pleasure ; but 

 is bound to carry the whole, or a part, either to the 

 company or the prince, at a regulated, and frequently 

 most inadequate price. Though the unbounded prero- 

 gatives of the sovereign, and this fluctuating state of pro- 

 perty,cannot admit a hereditary nobility, there are never- 

 theless a privileged class, who receive titles and exten- 

 sive powers at the pleasure of their despot; and who are 

 proportionally revered by the superstitious people as re- 

 presentatives of royalty. Thedistinction between the peo- 

 ple and these privileged orders is extremely marked and 

 humiliating, and extends even to the language, of which 

 the men of rank speak one dialect, and the plebeians ano- 

 ther. The language is even adapted to the different 

 gradations of rank ; and the sovereign particularly often 

 makes use of one dialect, which no subject dare use, and 

 is spoken to in another, which can be addressed only to 

 himself. When a Javanese, in short, approaches the 

 presence of his prince, his great object is to express the 

 immeasurable inequality between his condition and that 

 of the sovereign. He assumes, therefore, the most ab- 

 ject position of body, rather crawling than walking ; 

 shews his respect not by decency of attire, but anxious- 

 ly displays his relative meanness by studied raggedness ' 

 or partial nakedness ; and instead of recommending 

 himself by the elegance of his language, selects the dia- 

 lect of the most ignorant slave, or mimics the barbarous 

 idiom of a despised stranger. It is the custom to ex- 

 press respect, not by standing, but by sitting in the pre- 

 sence of a superior ; and even the slaves who attend as 

 menials, squat at the feet of their master or mistress, in- 

 stead of placing themselves behind their back. The 



* See CHINA, Vol. VI. p. 300 Note f. 



