Evening star., 1901-09-28
How Holland Manages Her Soldiers
in the East Indies.
ARMY SCHOOLS AND BARRACKS
The Javanese Chinese Versus Those
of the Philippines.
THEIR ENORMOUS WEALTH
Copyright, 1901. by Frank C. carpenter.)

Copyright, 1901, by Frank C. Carpenter)
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
TJIMAI, Java.
1 have come to Tjaimai to tell you some
thing about the Dutch colonial army. This
is one of their chief garrisons. 1t already
includes 1000 soldiers and more will be
added until this becomes one of the chief
fortified places of the East Indies 1t is
situated six hours from the coast, about
2,00o feet above the sea, and nature has
built natural fortihcations about it. The
camp lies in a plain several miles wide
walled by mountains which rise In blue
grandeur until they lost in heecy white
clouds. The place is a natural amphithea-
ter walled by extinct volcanoes and rooted
by the sky. 1t is easily reached by magnif-
cent roads, and the trunk line of railway
from Batavia to Soerbaya also goes to it.
The Dutch Colonial Army.
have been much interested in the Dutch
soldiers whom have seen In different parts
of Java. The Hollanders among them are
magnificent fellows, tall, straight and well
formed. They are especially we'll dressed
and are gentlemen. 1 have talked with
them about the army, and find that there
are only 1900 soldiers in the Dutch colo
MAI empire OF the East Indies, and of these
only 1900 are Europeans We have sew
eral times that many Americans in the
Philippines, and this notwithstanding the
Pniilppines have about one-fourth as many
people The native population controlled
by Holland Is 100000. 1t embraces ma
tlyeS of every variety found in the far east
1here are savages as wild as the hill tribes
or Mlndoro and Mindanao, and there are
also half-educated farmers like our Fill
plnos Of Panay and Luzon. The Dutch have
more tribes to control than we have,
and they understand how to use their SOL
u hot har-
ropean to every 1900 souls
II was through the kindness of Lord Van
Benthem van den Berg that l was admitted
10 TINS encampnent. l came in carriage
pehlnd team of Sandalwood ponies from
Bandong. The whole way was through
beautiful park lined with cottages of
woven bamboo filled with little brown
people of all ages and sexes Now we went
pS market mile long where the women
were squatting and. selling; and we found
JaVanese houses almost to the very bar
racks of the soldiers.
How the Dutch Soldiers Live,
nave recently been in the Philippines
and have seen how our colonial soldiers
are quartered. Some of them are in tents.
some in bamboo shacks and some In Fill
pino houses turned into barracks The
Dutch have been experimenting for CEN
turies as to the best accommodations for
their soldiers in this tropical climate and
their methods can be copied In the Philip
pines with profit. The buildings of Tjimai
consist OF vast barracks made of woven
bamboo. The bamboo cane Is split into
strips when it is green and fattened out
Each strip is shaved so that 1t is as wide
as an ordinary Iath and perhaps an eighth
OF an Inch thick Many of the strips are
forty feet long. They are woven into great
sheets, so big that they form the walls of
the barracks They are rafn-ttght when
hhished and are at the same time airy and
clean
Walls of this kind are nailed to studding
which upholds roofs of galvanized iron. The
noors are of stone and the buildings are
cool and comfortable Each building is
about thirty feet wide and perhaps $50 feet
long. There is an aisle through the center