596 



The Supplement to the Tropical Agriculturist 



Dutch and other nationalities, during our far 

 too short excursion. (In the Malay States, 

 too, we came across several who had got 

 their planting literature from Ceylon, and who, 

 after Liberian coffee failed, wisely went in for 

 Coconuts and Rubber.) We can quite believe 

 that in the 



Rich Soil of Java 



in favourable situation, the coconut palm must 

 nourish exceedingly ; but our Austrian friend 

 gave us figures for the crops from his early 

 bearing palms which we would rather not 

 repeat until he has had some more experience 

 on a wider scale. Solitary palms well looked 

 after often develop heads of nuts that are out 

 of all proportion to the return from any appre- 

 ciable acreage. Bandoeng struck us as a very 

 busy prosperous place, and for an hour we 

 continued to pass through picturesque country 

 till we got to Tjitjalanka, in the neighbourhood 

 of which are extensive swamps unsurpassed for 

 snipe shooting in the proper season ! Then 

 on to Tjibatoe we had magnincent mountain 

 scenery, and at Padalarang there is a change to 

 another line made by any who want to visit the 

 pretty little town of 



Garoet 



— the centre of fourteen volcanoes of which 

 " Golnoeng Goentoer" (Thunder Mountain) is 

 chief. A great eruption took place here in 1772 

 (from Papandajan, 8,000 feet) when 3,000 people 

 perished. Form another active crater near by 

 an eruption took place in 1882, but did not 

 cause much damage. Following the main line 

 we now begin to descend rapidly, and from 

 Tjamis to Bandjar we enter on quite different 

 country — lowlands and much of it uncultivated 

 because deemed feverish and unhealthy by the 

 people. It is here, however, that enterprising 

 Java, Straits, and Ceylon planters have taken 

 up land on a considerable scale for 



"Rubber," 



and soon (10 minutes) after leaving Bandjar 

 Station, having been apprised beforehand and 

 the train travelling slowly, we had a very good 

 passing inspection of four of these large blocks 

 of Syndicate's or Company's land and some 

 extensive fields of rubber and also one or two 

 with coconuts. These were in order on the 

 left, A block to take up which a Syndicate had 

 just been formed. The part we saw over was 

 being cleared up and some portions indicated 

 how heavy this work could be. On the right of 

 the railway line and touching it was the block 

 of the 



"Hevea Rubber Company 1 ' 



shewing a splendid growth of rubber, the fields 

 clean with a border of forest that indicated 

 how rich the soil must be. The lay of the land 

 appeared to be all that could be desired. 

 Farther on, on the left was the "Langen Rubber 

 and Coconut" property, chiefly belonging to 

 Straits shareholders ; while opposite this, on 

 the right of the railway is the "Straits-Java" 

 Rubber Company's block. There is a little 

 railway station in Langen which will serve for 

 all four properties, and the river Tjidandoey 

 runs round some of the properties. There were 

 evidences of a large labour force being at work, 



and no doubt justice will be done in developing 

 and keeping clean the cultivation in this 

 district. The country thence continued flat and 

 rather marshy and uninteresting, until we came 

 on rice cultivation in the neighbourhood of 

 Maos, our terminus for the night — since there is 

 no night travelling on Java railways. Here at 



Maos 



it can be decidedly warm, being nearly on sea 

 level with a short branch railway to the port of 

 Tjilatjap. But a sea-breeze prevailing, we 

 found the Government Hotel, with its many 

 rather small bedrooms wonderfully cool, and 

 the catering by the ex-military Dutchman in 

 charge, very fair. Two trains stop over here 

 for the night, and they often deposit a consider- 

 able number of hungry passengers, for whom a 

 good dinner and early tea (the start being soon 

 after 6 a.m.) are provided with the accommo- 

 dation at wonderfully moderate rates. We had 

 the pleasure on this last section up to Maos, and 

 on next day, of the company of the 



Commercial Agent 



for the Orient of the Australian Commonwealth 

 Government. Mr. Sinclair, of Scottish extrac- 

 tion born in Victoria, has travelled much and 

 observed closely both in the West and East; 

 but his duties now are chiefly connected with 

 Cochin China, Siam, Malaya, Sumatra, Java and 

 Netherlands Indies generally as well as the 

 Philippines, and undoubtedly trade is develop- 

 ing between all these countries and Australia. 

 In no land does Mr. Sinclair take so much in- 

 terest as in Java, and he became as enthusiastic 

 over the industry and comfort of the people and 

 the prosperity of planters and merchants as 



Miss Marianne North 



became over its natural attractions, when she 

 wrote : — 



' ' Java is one magnificent garden of luxuri- 

 ance, surpassing Brazil, Jamaica and Sarawak 

 all combined, with the grandest volcanoes rising 

 out of it Moreover, tra- 

 vellers are entirely safe in Java, which is no 

 small blessing." 



I cannot say if Miss North was thinking of 

 people or volcanoes in her allusion to safety, 

 possibly the former in comparison, perhaps, 

 with Sarawak and Borneo. 



After leaving Maos, we very soon entered on 

 a rich, highly-cultivated and populous country. 

 The very soil — volcanic ashes full of potash — 

 seemed rich enough to be worth shipping to 

 fertilise the poor rice-fields and plantations of 

 Lanka. We soon got into a great 



Sugar and Tobacco, 



country. The huge Factory chimneys and ex- 

 tensive buildings of the former indicated the 

 comparatively enormous amount of capital 

 required for machinery, &c, by the sugar 

 planter as compared with his neighbours in tea, 

 coffee, cacao, coconuts or rubber. Clearly Sugar 

 and Tobacco Planters are the big men of Java 

 in capital. The evidences of tobacco growing 

 were seen in the many large, well-thatched 

 drying sheds in the middle of extensive fields 

 for the tobacco leaves to be spread out and 

 prepared. It seemed as if the villagers grew 



