DEFECTS IN THE SYSTEM. 185 



sion of the person of the principal native chief, and 

 treacherously kept him prisoner until he was 

 banished to Amboyna. 



This and similar occurrences were said to have 

 much shaken the faith of the Javanese in the word 

 of their rulers, and I was told that both natives 

 and Chinese would trust an European of any other 

 nation with much more readiness, and to a far greater 

 amount, than they would a Hollander. 



Some improvement, I was glad to learn, was now 

 beginning to manifest itself in the general character 

 of the persons concerned in the government of Java, 

 but much of the old leaven was said to remain, and 

 it was ascribed to the following defects in their sys- 

 tem. — The con trolloor ship and subordinate offices 

 are much underpaid, so that men of high caste of 

 talent and character cannot be expected to take them, 

 even with the prospect of promotion. In all offices, 

 even the highest, the emoluments are not confined 

 to direct salary or wages, but often in greater part 

 arise from per centages on produce raised in the 

 district, and by other indirect means ; affording 

 facilities for and offering temptations to fraud, or at 

 least occupying the mind of the officer with endea- 

 vours to increase his own profits rather than perform 

 the duties of his station without fear, favour, or affec- 

 tion. The secresy of all transactions, or at least their 

 want of publicity, and the system of reporting all 

 occurrences to superior authority, affords scope for, 

 and gives a tendency to intrigue and artifice, and 



