118 MALAY LAND TENURE. 



it 



C( 



but as it costs him nothing, beside his labour, it is only the 

 u produce which is esteemed of value, and the compensation he 

 receives is for this alone. A temporary usufruct is accordingly 

 " all that they attend to, and the price, in case of sale, is 

 " generally ascertained by the cocoa-nut, durian, and other fruit- 

 te trees that have been planted on it ; the buildings being for the 

 " most part, but little durable. Whilst any of these subsist, the 

 " descendants of the planter may claim the ground, though it 

 " has been for years abandoned. If they are cut down, he may 

 "recover damages; but if they have disappeared in the course 

 " of nature the land reverts to the public."* 



" In Celebes, in Bali, and in that ill-peopled portion of 

 " Java called the country of the Sundas, the cultivator is 

 " invested with a kind of proprietary right. By sufferance he 

 11 can bequeath, alienate, or mortgage his little tenement."^ 



" Among them (the Sundanese), private property in the soil 

 " is generally established; the cultivator can transmit his pos- 

 " session to his children. Among them it can be sub-divided 

 " without any interference on the part of a superior ; the posses- 

 " sor can sell his interest in it to others, and transfer it by gift 

 " or core)) ant. He pays to his Chief a certain proportion of the 

 " produce, in the same manner as the other inhabitants of 

 " Java; because in a country without trade or manufactures, 

 " labour or produce is the only shape in which he can contri- 

 " bute to support the necessary establishments of the commu- 

 " nity. So long as he advances this tribute, which is one-tenth 

 " or one-fifth of the gross produce, he has an independent right 

 " to the occupancy of his land and the enjoyment of the 

 " remainder. " % * * * 



" The situation, however, of the cultivator in the Sunda 

 " districts, who is a proprietor, is not much more eligible than 

 "that of the tenant of the Government : he may, it is true, 

 " alienate or transfer his lands, but while he retains them, he 

 " is liable to imposts almost as great as they can bear ; and 

 " when he transfers them, he can therefore expect little for 

 " surrendering to another the privilege of reaping from his 



* History of Sumatra, 244. 



f CrAWFTJBD — Hist. Ind. Arch., III. 53. 



