VISIT TO A SUGAR PLAKTATION. 



67 



simple means employed by the ancient Egyptians 

 along tlie Mil, and whieli tie slabs from tlie palaces 

 at Nineveh show ns were also used along the Eu- 

 phrates. 



Only one crop is usually taken from the soil each 

 year, unless the fields can be readily irrigated. Ma- 

 nure is rarely or never used, and yet the scmas ap- 

 pear as fertile as ever. The sugar-canGj however, 

 quickly exhausts the soiL One cause of this probably 

 is that the whole of every cane is taken from the field 

 except the top and root, while only the upper part of 

 the rice-stalks are canied away, and the rest is burned 

 or allowed to decay on the gi-ound. On this account 

 only one-third of a plantation is devoted to its cul- 

 ture at any one time, the remaining two-thirds being 

 planted with rice, for tlie sustenance of the natives 

 that work on that plantation. These crops are kept 

 rotating so that the same fields are liable to an extra 

 di'ain from sugar-cane only once in three years. On 

 each plantation is a village of Javanese, and several 

 of these villages are under the immediate manage- 

 ment of a canirohwr. It is his duty to see that a cer- 

 tain number of natives are at work every day, that 

 they prepare the ground, and put in the seed at the 

 proper season, and take due care of it till harvest- 

 time.* 



The name of the plantation we were to see was 

 " Seroenie," As we neared it, several long, low, white 

 buildings came into view, and two or three high 



* For the "history of the cnltu re-system and government in the Kether- 

 lands India, consult Money's " Java." 



