The History of Java, v. 1-2

by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

"The father of Browijáya was informed by his head Bramána, that it was written in a sacred book that after the expiration of forty days the title of Rája of Majapáhit should be extinct: to which the Raja gave such implicit credit, that at the expiration of that time he caused himself to be burnt alive. His son, not daring to disobey the sentence of the book, removed to Báli with a number of followers, and established his authority at Klóngkong, taking the title of supreme sovereign, which title still continues hereditary in the Rajas of Klóngkong."

The inhabitants of Báli, like those of Java, are principally employed in agriculture. The fertility of the island may be inferred from the number of people maintained on so limited a spot. Rice is the chief produce of the soil, and of course the chief article of subsistence.

From the mountainous nature of the country, advantage cannot so easily be taken of the periodical rains for the purpose of the rice irrigation, but the lands are irrigated by an abundant supply of water from streams and rivers. In some places, as in Kárang Asem, two crops of rice are obtained in one year; but over the greatest part of the island only one. In the dry season the sáwahs yield a crop of maize. The natives reckon from fifty to sixty fold of increase in the rice cultivation no extraordinary produce. The women are not employed, as in Java, to plant the pári: their assistance in the field is only required to reap it. The implements of husbandry are of the same simple construction as those on Java, and nearly similar in form.

Bullocks of the Bánteng, or wild breed, and of very fine quality, are almost invariably used in husbandry. The price of a pair of oxen of this kind, fit for the plough, is generally about six Spanish dollars, and seldom exceeds eight. The ordinary price of a pikul (133¼ pounds English) of rice, is about three-fourths of a Spanish dollar.

The tenure by which land is held differs widely from that which exists at present in the native provinces of Java. The sovereign is not here considered the universal landlord; on the contrary, the soil is almost invariably considered as the private property of the subject, in whatever manner it is cultivated or divided. It may be sold, let, pledged, devised, or otherwise disposed of, at the option of the proprietor, and without any reference to the will of the superior. The divisions of this property are generally very minute, and the mode of measurement not very defined, and there are instances of great irregularity, even in the application of the same mode of measurement.

The measure of land is expressed by the quantity of seed required to sow it, and said to be so many tánas. Some proprietors possess fifty tánas, while others hold not more than one or two. The private estate of the elder Raja of Bliling did not exceed a few hundred tánas, nor did that of the younger much surpass it.

But though the prince is not considered as actual proprietor of the land of his dominions, he receives a certain share of the produce in the way of tax. This tax is either paid in a small Chinese coin, called képeng, or in kind, at the rate of about five tánas of produce for every tána of seed sown.

Though in the lower districts the food of the people is universally rice, in the higher and more mountainous parts they subsist principally on sweet potatoes and Indian corn. The principal animal food that they use is swine flesh, which is found in great abundance. The price of a grown hog seldom exceeds a dollar, and scarcely ever amounts to a dollar and a half.

The habitations of the Bálians differ from those of the Javans, in being generally constructed of mud walls and surrounded by walls of baked or unbaked bricks; in consequence of which, and the peculiar formation of the entrances and doorways, the principal towns are said to resemble the Hindu towns on the continent of India.

The arts are little practised. Though the island produces cotton of the most excellent quality, and in great abundance, the natives have not generally learned the art of painting or printing the cloth, which they manufacture from it. The women here, as on Java, are the manufacturers of all the cloth used by their husbands or families. Their principal manufacture is in kríses and warlike instruments; they make fire-arms, and ornament the barrels, but purchase European locks.