The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-11
ISLAND OF JAVA
wrrRE EVERY P1osPIcT
rLEAsEs THE EYE -
Strange Fruits in Abundanee-soms
Delicious, Unknown Eisewnsfb
the Rule Of the Dutch, huins
of an Ancient Temple.

Rebert Woods Sutton. wriun6 70 , am
Eansas city star in letter dated java
sea saws; ',As we have at length s"!n.a
our backs on the eeautitm w ,s'o over ~ the
s ano tn waters Of the Java sea It y =
rood time to pause and 1ot cow - NV NV
~ The many things which attrac.cu om1
attention In the vefitabie 'saruon y. sn.rss
T shall try to tell OF the Javanese tnem.
selves OF their manners Of iivins ana
/ working.
MANY different races have at various
| times carved out a home ZOE .n ,c,.nd ~
Java, and the tribes are as dlSunct tn ~
separate today a. ever they were. ~ w
western end Of the island there arg W.
large tribes. the soendanese ana sns r ,seo.
pie. cheerful and trustworthy: wGne .no
latter are wild, fanatical and half civa-
LIKED. In Mid-Java Hive the ,oriGina IN
habitants, the Javaness. 7 mos. ss GT,1 nn,y
10 be allowed to live. knowing or earns
Cor nothing except their families, heids
and religion. The Inhabitants OF east
Java, the Madurese, are Of a very ,,,e ca,-
LACKING affection, hating all forms OF
| servItide, using poison and the KRIS Tag
Ver1 to avenge themselves on tnear mas
tiers. Along the coasts are. large Maisy
| &c altered all over the island, mingling ana
intsrn,arryins with the other people.
| Tho Dutch FIRST settled In the western
part OF the island and. beans q tnIn.y
psople themselves. they would not tci ia.
ate lasineys in the people they ruled. me
native was forced. not only to cultivate
| tho land. but to raise OH II that crop
| which the Dutch overseer thoueht wgmIo
have the resdiest sale In Europe; Inc
| government took as it's share by far the
| iarsrst per centage OF the crop, buying
the remainder from thesfarmer at nxed
price and giving him grain and cloM IN
exchange Large w ;.,enS ;nio when the
| Government gathered Its goods until an
| opportune moment should arrive for AMP.
\ ping them to Europe. But this was not
all that was REQUIRES , o. ,he na 1--WE one
days labor in every seven to tne GOV
eminent, which used this labor for build
| ing roads and irrigation canals. and work.
Ing large plantations Of Sore o s'e co,,rss
| took the whole of this crop without fur-
| ther payment.
These things went on for several hun
dred years until the whole Of west java @S
was one beautiful, productive garden. The
| people had no Injuries. They always had
sufficient to eat and wear and the land
was greatly improved, STEADY stream
Of gold at the same time lowing INTO me
would have been larger, but herce wars
| had to be waged. especially with the two
| great Jayanese suitans at DJo1acarta ana
Solo but these were a. LEN Length Gomaus thsx
are really political prisoners. The Dutca
| residents who have palaces and live In
| equal splendor by their sides are the real
rulers. Not many years ago. how siss an, an
system of governing in the Indies and the
| Government was forced to alter 1t. Com
! pulsory cultivation of the land was given
up and taxes were In the future TO De
Ia in
| ton of coffee. man could cultivate what
| he chose and sell 1t to whom he wished.
Hitherto there had been no money In
| the island except that used among the
| Dutch. From it's introduction among the
| natives. those who ought to know attrfb-
| ute the beginning of the present troubles
which seem to be overtaking the island
The natives gambled and squandered their
money in highly reckless manner, con-
saquently. when the tax collector came
| around they were forced to pawn and
! mortgage to meet his demands At any
rate, ever since that day when they were
slavery, the people have been growing
poorer and poorer. The system OF fur
nishing labor to the State was not abol-
ished. but merely reduced from one day
| to half day out OF seven
| The people live in villages called cam
| pongs," going out in bands to their fields
in the morning and returning in the even
ing as they used to do in Europe in the
charge of a head man and he picks out
the government workers who must COM
prise' onc-fourteenth of all the working
men Of the village, who go on in sepa-
rate band to their work. You may see
these bands tramping in all directions at
daybreak or sunset to the Government
plantations or the roads to be built or re-
paired. which are often at long distances
from the respective "campongs' of the
workers.
The houses which make up the ,iative
village are built of bamboo and matched
with palm. The, walls are single sheets
and neatly intertwined; the whole appear
ance of the Javanese house is neat and
comfortable. The houses OF the village
are clustered thicl<ly on a small patch OF
for cultivation. and shaded 10y dense
growth of tropical verdure, so that one
might easily pass close to a village with |
out being aware that IT was near.
strange. The most common 10 the |
strangest of all. II il called the DURHAM |
and grows like huge excrescence from |
the trunk OF tree somewhat similar to |
our pear tree. The fruit, which In pear |
shaped, grows 30 a great size, often sew
eral feet in length and has yellow skin,
rough like pineapple. The most remark
able thing about the DURAN. however. Is
off is putting it mildly. a combination
of aged eggs and the ripest cheese would |
not be compared with IT, when Won
break open the hull to find what can be |
the cause OF all this disturbance to your
olfactory nerves. you find a great cluster
of snow white kernels which taste like
some strangely delicious custard, your
amazement is greater still. Another
strange fruit Is the serpent fruit. so called
from the fact that its skin IL the exact
of that of snake. There
is the pomoles. like a great orange: the
potato fruit. which resembles that vege-
table in all but its fine flavor: the Gust ard
apple, with a yellow custard like pulp
having a rather decided taste of turpen-
tine; the poppae. like melon growing
on n tree: the great Jack fruit of rather
a coarse flavor; a small yellow :ruit with
an hpronounceable native nam. encssed
In great burr like a chestnut, and
hundred other varieties, some good, some
and some entirely unpan:Inle
to any but native. The orange lis rath-
er a scarce fruit. but the pineapple and
banana are abundant and delicious. There
are more than twenty varieties of bananas
ma tive to Java.
The most delicious of all the fruits.
however is the mangOsteen. For years
an enormous reward has awaited the man 4
who would bring a basket to the Queen |
of Holland. but unfortunately the fruit |
Is too perishable and to taste 1t you must
go to the country where II grows. En-
cased In hard, purple shell, lined with
IN exquisite gauZe, are a number OF
snow-white sections something like those
Of an orange. only each one growing
ton contains one seed encased in a SUBJ
n 10 of he ora IN |