CHAP. XYit,] NATIFMS OF MLYJEJSJ. 



243 



iiioiintain, the ton-ent and the lake, were tlie abode of their 

 deities ; and certain trees aiitl birds were supposed to have 

 especial influence over men's actions and destiny. They 

 hehl wild and exciting festivals to propitiate these deities 

 ur demons ; and believed that men could be changed by 

 them into animals, eitlier during life or after death. 



Here we have a picture of tme savage lift^ ; of small 

 isolated coninmuities at war with all around them, subject 

 to the wants and miseries of such a condition, diuwing a 

 precarious existence from the luxuriant soil, and living on 

 from generation to generation, witli no desire for ])hysical 

 amelionitiou, and no prospect of moral advancement. 



Such was their condition down to tlie year 1822, when 

 the coffee-plant was first introduced, and experiments were 

 made as to its cultivation. It was found to succeed ad- 

 mirably at from fii^een hundred up to four thousand feet 

 above the sea. The chiefs of villages were induced to 

 undertake its cultivation. Seed and native instructors 

 were sent from .Java ; food was suppUed to the labourers 

 engaged in clearing and planting ; a lixed price was esta- 

 l)lished at which all coflTee brought to the government col- 

 lectors was to be paid for, and the village chiefs who now 

 received the titles of " Majors " were to receive tive per cent, 

 of the produce. After a tune, roads were made from the port 

 of Meuado up to the plateau, and smaller paths were cleared 

 from village to vUhige ; missionaries settled in the more 

 populous districts and opened schools, and Chinese traders 

 penetratiid to the interior and sujiplied clothing and other 

 luxuries in exchange for the money which the sale of the 

 cofifee had produced. At the same time, the country was 

 divided into districts, and the system of " Control! eurs,*' 

 which had worked so well in Java, was introduced. The 

 " Controlleur " %vas a European, or a native of Euixipean 

 Idood, who was the general superintendent of the cultiva- 

 tion of the districts the adviser of the chiefs, the protector 

 of the people, and the means of communication between 

 both and the P^uropean Government. His duties obliged 

 him to visit every village in succession once a month, and 

 to send in a rf}>ort on their condition to the Resident. 

 As disputes between adjacent villages were now settled by 

 appeal to a superior authority, the old and inconvenient 



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