298 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
The effect of the Dutch “ culture-system ” is perhaps 
better seen in Minahasa than in Java, and no one could 
visit the district without being struck with the example 
of prosperity and happiness it affords. Some years ago 
Mr. Wallace pointed out that it is only by some such 
means that the gulf between savagery and advanced 
civilisation can be bridged, and that the experiment of 
introducing free trade and free labour among a childlike 
and irresponsible people must inevitably be fraught with 
disaster. Twenty years later Dr. Guillemard found the 
Minahasans “ a contented, happy people, among whom 
drunkenness and crime were almost non-existent; the 
land highly cultivated, and the villages neater and cleaner 
than in any part of the civilised world/’ and was con¬ 
strained to agree with Mr. Wallace. A still later 
traveller, the naturalist Dr. Hickson, who resided in 
Northern Celebes for a year in 1885, thus speaks of the 
corv6e in Minahasa :—“ The system of heerendienst has 
been very severely criticised by many well-meaning per¬ 
sons as tyrannical and unjust, but I cannot help thinking 
that every one who is really acquainted with the circum¬ 
stances of these colonies and the character and condition 
of the people must admit that it is a service which is 
both necessary and just. The Dutch Government has 
brought to the people of Minahasa not only the blessings 
of peace and security, but also the possibilities of a very 
considerable civilisation and commercial prosperity. The 
natives are now able to sow their rice in perfect con¬ 
fidence that they will gather the harvest in due season; 
they are able to send their corn, their chickens, and 
other produce to the markets without fear of being 
plundered on the road, and without experiencing the 
horrors of war and bloodshed; they pass their lives in 
peace and quietude from the cradle to the grave. In 
