The morning call., 1893-03-25
RON VOYAGE. JAYANEsEl

A special overland train will take ont
to-day to Chicago, where they will form a
feature Of the Worlds Fair, colony of
Asiatics of a race which has never been
raHresented on American soil. They are
Jayanese-natiYes of the most interesting,
the most romantic and the most popuous
island of the East Indian Archipelago.
When the Dutch first landed in Java, about
the time of the Spanish conquest OF Mexico
and Peru, they fopnd a population which
they estimated at 5000. .000 people, intelli-
CONT, warllke and religious. They were
governed by an emperor, who occupied
fortified town in the interior of the Island.
BE looked with no friendly eye on the for
eigners and was with difficulty persuaded
to allow them to establish a trading post on
the site of the present city Of Batavia. The
aborigines. though of the Malay race, aD-
pear TO have originally professed the Brah-
min faith; but about the time the Moors of
Spain engaged in death grapple with the
Christians for the domination of that penin-
sula the Moslems of India crossed over into
the island and made Mohammedanism
The ruling religion. The introduction Of
third religion reused opposition on every
side, and it was only by carefully eschew-
ing proselytism tnat the Dutch were ena-
bled to maintain their foothold and ulti-
mately to reduce the whole island under
their sway.
They have made it one of the garden
spots of the world, and one of the chief
sources for the worlds supply of coffee,
sugar, tea, tobacco and spices. This result
has been achieved by the assertion of the
Governments claim to the ownership of
most OF the agricultural land. and by its
cultivation by compulsory labor Ten years
ago there were about q, 100000 natives in
Java; these. women as well as men, were
compelled to work one day a week on the
Government plantations. In 1882, the CON-
pulsory labor law was modified so as to con-
fine lis operation to the coffee plantations
only. and simultaneously, IN the western
portion of The island, Europeans and China
men were permitted TO acquire estates, on
which natives lived in bamboo huts, and
raised tea and rice for their own cousump-
ton, on the condition Of devotng so much
unpaid labor to the cultivation of the
estates Of the Government OF The great land
owners Under the new regime, as under
the old. agriculture has been conducted
under a system which is practically slave
labor.
Those who visited the Javanese colony in
Ni-NtA hhA ANh Audl LGio bl uudku Lllb GdEllC
must have been struck with the small
stature of the strangers. The men rarely
exceed five feet. and the women are much
smaller. They are, in this respect, differ
ent from the other branches of the Malay
race. They seem TO be a docile, good
tempered people, who could easily be kept
under restraint by such harsh taskmasters
IS the Dutch. To prevent their rebelllng
against subjection. the Dutch have set their
faces against foreign immigration. Even
tourists have had to comply with arbitrary
rules TO obtain permission 10 res de at
Batavia. As for the Chinese. when they
began 70 arrive in mum bers, the Colonial
Government prohibited their landing under
pain Of death. and the edict was no dead
letter. But in spite Of the executions, the
Chinese came pouring in, and now they
number nearly 100000, own a number Of
plantations, and have established m0nOp-
oily of the livery stable business.
Java is the southernmost of the group
Of Islands which represent the sunken coun-
try that once extended from the Malay
Peninsula to the eastern end of New
Guinea. Three or four degrees north of I
lies the island of Borneo, where Sir James
Brooke Yainlv attempted TO establish an
empire in the fashion of Pizsrro; a few
miles west, aud separated from Java by the
Straits Of Angler, where vessels bound for
China or Japan are reported by telegraph,
is tie island Of Sumatra. The whole area
occupied by these and the adjacent Islands
is still in the volcanic period, the latest
stage of creation. Everybody remembers
the tremendous earthquake of Krakatoa,
Just ten years ago, which submerged 4 score
Of coast towns and villages under a tidal
wave. and buried all the crops of Northern
Java under layer OF stones. mud and lava
There are forty-five active volcanoes on the
island, so that the natives cannot be sur
prised at the catastrophe. 1t locks as
though the lastOf these appalling phenomena
had not yet been witnessed; the seas which
wash the Islands are rarely deeper than
sixty fathUms, so there is a margin for a
further depression.
a more practical matter for slderation,
so far as San Francisco is concerned, is the
foreign trade. The foreign trade Of Java
amounts TO about S1GO, ,OOO 600 annually, the
imports being about $40, OG0. 900. OF these
the Netherlands Government used to claim a
| monopoly. But now goods from other ma
tons are admitted on the same terms as
Dutch goods, the duties averaging about 6
per cent. The English shipped $500, 900
worth Of goods, chiefly textiles and hard
ware, TO Batavia last year. There seems to
be no reason why san Francisco should not
do