The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-20 00:00:00

THE PRESENT STATE AND CAPABI-
LITIES OF JAVA.

VIENNA, Jan. 8, 1859.—0ne of the officers be-
longing to the scientific expedition sent out to the
Eastern Archipelago and China, in the Austrian
frigate Novara, has just sent home some interesting
particulars of their visit to Java, from which I am
enabled to communicate to you some part of the
report, which may
,be interesting to your readers,
as so little of the real state of that important island
is known to the public, through the jealousy of the
Dutch.
The writer was greatly struck, on the arrival cf
the frigate at Batavia, to find so few vessels in the
harbour, although it is the principal commercial
mart of the Dutch East India trade, which, from
the various restrictive and illiberal regulations,
amounts very nearly to a monopoly. About two-
thirds of the whole of the land cultivated in Java be-
longs to the Dutch Government, and its produce 13
sent home in the ships belonging to the Handels-
Maatschappy, a company at Amsterdam, in which
the King of:Netherlands holds stock to the extent
of 20 millions of florins, as a private shareholder.
The greater part of the produce of Java is, there-
fore, only turned into money on its arrival in
Europe, and after passing through the periodical
sales held by the company, alternately at Amster-
dam, Rotterdam, and Dordrecht.
The population of Java and Madura is composed
as follows :
Europeans and their descendants ........ 18,858
Chineae
133,655
•
Other Asiatics
Free natives
10,728,833
Slaves
.. 8,713

Total .. . . . ........ .
Among this vast population it is striking to ob-
serve the small number of Europeans, and this still
more when one finds that the whole number of
persons born in Holland is only 2,170 (including
women and children) ; other Europeans, 859 ; so
that the great majority (15,829), are born on the
island, and descended from Dutch parents.
The military force, is composed of 22,449 men, of
whom 7,863 are Europeans and Africans, and
13,889 natives, and people froth. Amboyna.
The Dutch naval force in those waters is com-
posed of 2 frigates, 3 corvettes, 2 brigs, 8 schooners,
one gunboat, and 11 armed steamers ; tog ether 27
sail, manned by 2,369 Europeans ard 583 natives.
The annual mortality in the navy is 2 officers and
53 men. The average number of sailors on the sick
list is 17 daily.
The general state of the health of the island may
be estimated by the following statistics :—During
the year 1855, the number of sick admitted to the
hospitals amounted to 26,115, of whom 20,200 were
discharged as cured; 2,484 (about nine per cent.),
died, and the rest were still under treatment. The
total number of cases of illness in the island is
returned at 40,707. The year 1856 appears to
have been unhealthy, for we find the number of
cases 52,923, of whom 4,148 died. Fevers, cholera,
and dysentery, are the prevailing and most fatal
diseases.

Owing to the narrow-minded system of commer-
cial policy pursued by the Dutch, and their
jealousy of foreigners,, neither the navigation, trade,
nor productions are on a footing commensurate
with such a vast population, and the advantageous
geographical position of Java, surrounded by pro-
lific islands, and enjoying the benefits of a tropical
climate so fully as they do.
During the year 1855, the whore number of ships
that arrived was 2,309 of 161,345 tons, and import-
ing goods to the value of 32,994,263 florins. Of
this the Dutch flag obtained the lion's share, being
2,065 vessels of 125,680 tons.
The chief articles of import in 1856 were :
Linen and cotton goods value 4134,927
Wine and spirits 137,428
Iron and ironmongery
China and earthenware 23,501
Copper and copper goods .
Provisions
Other articles

Total
Which came from the following countries :
Europe, America and Capeland £1,738,507
West Indies, and 8enga167,160
China, Manilla, and Siam - 253,457
Japan
The Indian Archipelago

Total
The principal exports in the same year con-
sisted of :

Cochineal . • . 126,8111b3 value £26,153
Indigo 1,093,422 ,z
Coffee l,lBB,4oßpiculs
Rice ....... 1,434,664 ~
Sugar
Tin (Baum)
Amongst the productions of the soil, the article
of the largest cultivation, and of the greatest im-
portance, is rice, as it affords the principal, and, in
most cases, only means of subsistence for the large
population of the island. lii 1855, there were
32,905 villages (kampongs) with 1,779,251 bouws
(a bouw is 500 utch square roods) of land culti-
vated with rice, which produced 29,037,273 piculs---
a picul is 1251 b. Dutch, or 133 lb. avoirdupois.
During the last few years great attention has
been paid to the cultivation of the palm-tree,
although it does not thrive so well in Java as in
many of the neighbouring islands. The plantations
at present contain 13,005,700 of these trees. They
bear fruit after six years, and then generally from
30 to 60 cocoanuts, which are used for making oil.
Coffee plantations, however, form the principal
source of profit for the Dutch Government ; but,
notwithstanding this, very little attention is directed
to the improvement either of the cultivation or the
quality of the crop. The number of coffee trees in
bearing amounted, in. 1855, to 228,640,542, which
produced 1,165,085 piculs of berries. From this it
appears that 199 trees are required to produce a
picul of coffee, which is a very low proportion com-
pared with other countries r for in Costa Rica the
produce of a tree is estimated at 11 to 21b. ; in
Brazil, 3.t0 4lbs. ; and in Cuba, 5 to 61b. ; whereas
in Java it is considerably less than lib. An esti-
mate may be formed of the enormous profit enjoyed
by the Dutch Government on this article, when it
is known that they bought the above crop of
1,165,085 piculs for 10,391,603 florins, which is
equal to 8/ florins per picul, whilst the average
price at which they sold it that year in Holland
was 371 florins per picul. In 1856 no less than
22,292,889
coffee frees came into bearing, and
every year large additional numbers are planted in
different parts of the island.—From a Correspondent
of the China Telegraph.