chap, xvn.] COFFEE PLANTATIONS. 387 



tion would produce any change in the zoology. The 

 village had only been formed about ten years, and was 

 quite as neat as those I had passed through and much 

 more picturesque. It is placed on a small level spot, from 

 which there is an abrupt wooded descent down to the 

 beautiful lake of Tondano, with volcanic mountains be- 

 yond. On one side is a ravine, and beyond it a fine 

 mountainous and wooded country. 



Near the village are the coffee plantations. The trees 

 are planted in rows, and are kept topped to about seven 

 feet high. This causes the lateral branches to grow very 

 strong, so that some of the trees become perfect hemi- 

 spheres, loaded with fruit from top to bottom, and pro- 

 ducing from ten to twenty pounds each of cleaned coffee 

 annually. These plantations were all formed by the 

 Government, and are cultivated by the villagers under 

 the direction of their chief. Certain days are appointed 

 for weeding or gathering, and the whole working popu- 

 lation are summoned by sound of gong. An account is 

 kept of the number of hours' work done by each family, 

 and at the year's end the produce of the sale is divided 

 among them proportionately. The coffee is taken to 

 Government stores established at central places over the 

 whole country, and is paid for at a low fixed price. 

 Out of this a certain percentage goes to the chiefs and 

 majors, and the remainder is divided among the inha- 



c c 2 



