"It is an instructive fact, highly worthy of remark, that the successive commotions and insurrections which have for many years disturbed the peace of Chéribon, have uniformly had their origin in the Javan districts, where the rights of private property in the soil were almost entirely overlooked, that they have only occasionally extended from the Javan to the Súnda districts, and have never reached the Priang'en lands, where property in the soil is fully acknowledged and respected.
"The taxes which fell upon agriculture were so various, and at the same time assumed such a variety of shapes, that it is impracticable to state in a word the actual portion which by law or custom fell to the share of the sovereign.
"The most material, however, are comprehended in the following catalogue, to which are added, others falling equally upon agricultural industry, though not constituting a direct source of revenue to government:
"1. The contingent, called in the language of the country, gántang. This is usually estimated at fifteen parts in one hundred of the rice crop; but it was, in truth, arbitrarily assessed, according to a rough conjecture of the capability of the country. In such of the Priang'en lands as continued to be directly administered by their own native chiefs, the amount paid to the latter was determined with some accuracy to be one tenth of the gross produce, embracing, as in the first case, the rice crop only.
"2. A poll tax, or rather a tax on families, called by the natives of this part of the country, pagalántang. Part was levied on account of government, and part on account of the chiefs.
"3. Market duties or tolls. These were literally levied on every article vended in the markets, embracing as well the whole produce of their agriculture, as that of their petty arts and manufactures.
"4. A tax on the slaughter of buffaloes, necessarily affecting the price of food, and discouraging the rearing of an animal indispensable to a successful prosecution of the labours of agriculture.
"5. The charge of lodging and feeding travellers, and transporting troops, baggage, and stores of all descriptions. This is termed in the native language, súguh, or the rites of hospitality.
"6. The obligation to construct and repair bridges, roads, and public buildings, throughout the country.
"7. The obligation to cultivate and deliver, at inadequate rates, certain foreign productions, which the actual condition of the country, the habits of the people, and still less their interests, could never have prompted them to undertake, if permitted freely to pursue their own interest. Coffee was the chief of these products.