Evening star., 1901-12-07
Odd Manners and Customs in the
Out-of-the-W Way Colonies.
HOW THE ISLANDS ARE GOVERNED
Methods That Would Prove Of
Use in the Philippines.
ED U CATION'IS GEN
Copyright 1901 by Frank G. CarpenterD

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
~. n Batavia, Java.
In this my last letter from Java l wish
to mention number of curious little things
| have heard and seen, in this out-of-the-
way part of the world. l might write for
a year and not describe half the colonies
the Dutch have in, he East Indies j hear
of new people and new islands every day,
and such as I visit are more strange than
the stories told Of them.
A ship which has Just arrived at Batavia
has brought New Zealand mining engi-
neer from the Celebes. He has been in the
employ Of the Dutch government, and has
spent the last few years in investigating
the mineral possibilities of different Dutch
islands. He tells me he finds traces of gold
almost everywhere, but so far none in pay
ing quantities.
l chatted with him for some time about
the Ceebes. These islands lie almost direct
ly south of the Sulu archipelago, so near,
indeed, that they might be called our neigh
bors. The Celebes, which is the name of
the largest island, is bigger than any of the
Philippines, and it has a coast line of enor-
nous extent. 1t is shaped much like an
octopus, with feelers reaching out in every
direction 1t has more land than the
state of Missouri. and from end to end in
its longest part 1t is about 800 miles. The
natives are very wild in some sections and
semi-civilized In others. The Dutch have
coffee plantations in the civilized sections
They have had possession Of the country
for 200 years, but have done little with it.
The most prominent settlement is that OF
Makassar, at the southern end of the island
Here the Dutch steamers stop. There are
several business houses and the chief eX-
ports of the archipelago come from there
| asked the engineer something about the
town. He says it has many Chinese and
Arabs, but very few Europeans. The
people are Mohammedans and they have
way of running amok as they CO in the
Philippines.
Very little of the Celebes Is explored
This engineer spent many weeks without
seeing white man and at times found it
very dangerous. He describes the country
as rich in the extreme, and says that the
coffee plantations which have recently been
set out in the north are doing we'll. He
tells me that the natives have many tribes
and languages, and the different tribes cam
not understand one another. In one section
the chief natives wear breech cloths of
bark. They take the bark of certain tree
and soak it. and then beat It out with mall
lets until it is very thin. When dry it is
glossy, and will withstand the rain.
In the Land of Nutmegs
This man spent some time in the Null
uccas. He knows all about cloves and
spices. and tells wonderful stories of the
nutmeg plantations. There are some nut
megs here in Java, but the best trees are
found in Ambona, In the Banda Islands,
the Moluccas and other parts of the Dutch
East Indies. There are also plantations in
Sumatra and Borneo. The trees in the Moluc-
cas- are planted and=cu4Hyated. They grow
in the shade and require somewhat the
same care as our apple trees. Indeed, the
nutmeg tree looks Just like a pear tree and
it's fruit Is not unlike an apricot or peach.
The tree does not begin to bear until it is
n fArf !, a., IA
cared for it may last "a century. A good
tree should annually, produce about three
pounds of nutmegs and one pound of mace,
and at this yield the business is profitable.
The fruit ripens several times year and
you sometimes see blossoms and fruit or
a tree at the sametfime. AS the nutmegs
ripen the pulp, which isabout half an inch
thick, breaks and SHOWS the nut encircled
fruit for the market the pulpy outside is
thrown away and the nuts are dried
slowly in ovens There are about a mil
lion and half pounds of nutmegs exported
from the Dutch East indies every year and
something like $4,000 pounds of mace.
Foreigners Abroad.
l have Investigated the chances for Amer
leans here and should not advise the ignor-
ant among our people to come to Java to
live. The foreigners of this part of the
world are men of fine education. They are
usually college bred. and it is rare to find
a man who cannot speak three languages
The Dutch officials in most cases speak
half a dozen and the higher classes of the
natives two or more. There is no place
where one SO much needs to know the GUS
toms of refined society, and no place where
matters of etiquette are more rigidly OBJ
served. It is impossible to travel comfort
ably and see anything of the people with
out dress suits and dinner gowns This is
so in every settlement of the far east from
Yokohoma to Hong Kong and from Singa-
pore to Australia. In the most out Of the
way parts of the least known islands you
are liable to find planter Who puts on