AGRICULTURE TN MALACCA, 
708 
the late mercantile distress in England having disconcerted all the 
plans of the intended sugar companies, and consequently the appli¬ 
cations for these grants have not been renewed. No concession 
of this kind has been made for any other sort of intertropical culture, 
although each will require as large an outlay, machinery and building 
excepted, as a sugar plantation. It is a mistake to suppose that 
the Dutch*, by which I mean the inhabitants, not the Government, 
paid no attention to the soil; on the contrary, large capitals were 
expended by them in the cultivation of pepper and coffee. Exten¬ 
sive plantations of the former were abandoned, M r hen it was found 
that this article could not be produced so cheaply as to compete 
with the native produce of Sumatra. The failure of a company 
which was formed for the cultivation of coffee, is attributable to 
their having exposed the young plants to the sun without the least 
shade, thereby rendering them sickly and susceptible of the attacks 
of white ants, which eventually destroyed them. It is a well known 
fact that no coffee plantation has succeeded even in Java when 
exposed in this manner. The coffee planters only discovered their 
mistake when it was too late to apply a remedy. This was the 
first check given to agriculture in this settlement, and the twenty 
year’s lease soon completed what ill-success and disappointment 
had begun, for it entirely destroyed the zeal for agricultural pursuits 
which had prevailed among the inhabitants of Malacca. There 
can be no doubt that perpetual leases, upon moderate terms, are 
the only sure means of restoring confidence, as well as developing 
agricultural resources in a country in which there is abundance of 
jungle, where wild vegetation is so exuberant that a plantation 
reverts into its primival state after a couple of years neglect, where 
land belonging to a private individual, of a rich description, and 
nearer town than any now available from Government, may be 
obtained in perpetuity by the payment of one eleventh of the produce, 
the tenant paying nothing before the plantation comes into bearing— 
in a country where lands upon short leases and variable terms have 
no value—where higher rents are cheerfully paid when the tenure 
is to be in perpetuity, by a people with whom the very terms Pesaka 
Nene ’ Moyang , inheritance from fore-fathers, have a magical 
import, and perishable articles no comparative value; witness the 
care with which every dollar is converted into gold ornaments, in¬ 
stead of decent clothing. As the local government of the present day 
appear to be satisfied, that no short leases upon unacceptable condi¬ 
tions, will ever tend to improve the cultivation of Malacca, we may 
expect that ere long more favourable terms will be conceded. 
Anticipating this, it may be desirable to consider what species of 
cultivation is best adapted to the place, and the least expensive 
mode of cultivating it. 
Malacca is unquestionably the most healthy, and the finest spot 
* Journal Ind. Arch. II, p. 144. 
