The inhabitants of Java, as a nation, must be accounted sober; although Europeans, in order to serve their own purposes, by inducing some of the chiefs to drink wine to excess, have succeeded, to a certain extent, in corrupting the habits of some individuals in this respect. Two kinds of fermented liquor are however prepared by the Javans, called bádek and bróm: the former from rice; the latter almost exclusively from kétan or glutinous rice. In making bádek, the rice previously boiled is stewed with a ferment called rági, consisting of onions, black pepper, and capsicum, and mixed up into small cakes, which are daily sold in the markets. After frequent stirring, the mixture is rolled into balls, which are piled upon each other in a high earthen vessel, and when fermentation has commenced the bádek exudes and is collected at the bottom. The remaining rice, strongly impregnated with the odour of fermentation, has a sweetish taste, and is daily offered for sale in the markets as a dainty, under the name of tapé. Bádek is, in comparison with bróm, a simple liquor, producing only slight intoxication: it is often administered to children to dislodge worms from the intestines. In making bróm, the kétan is boiled in large quantities, and being stewed with rági, remains exposed in open tubs till fermentation takes place, when the liquor is poured off into close earthen vessels. It is generally buried in the earth for several months, by which the process of fermentation is checked and the strength of the liquor increased: sometimes it is concentrated by boiling. The colour is brown, red, or yellow, according to the kind of kétan employed. Bróm, which has been preserved for several years, is highly esteemed among the natives, constituting a powerful spirit, which causes violent intoxication followed by severe head-ache in persons not accustomed to its use. The substance that remains after separation is a deadly poison to fowls, dogs, and various other animals. Arrack is prepared by distillation: an inferior kind, made in a more simple and economical manner, is called chiu. Both are prepared by the Chinese, and a particular account of the method employed will be found under another head[45]. A kind of small beer is made at Súra-kérta in a mode similar to the European process of brewing, by exciting fermentation in a solution of Javan sugar, with several spices and the leaves of the pári instead of hops. When fresh, the liquor is sprightly, and not unpleasant to the taste; but it cannot be preserved longer than four or five days.
The use of opium, it must be confessed and lamented, has struck deep into the habits, and extended its malignant influence to the morals of the people, and is likely to perpetuate its power in degrading their character and enervating their energies, as long as the European government, overlooking every consideration of policy and humanity, shall allow a paltry addition to their finances to outweigh all regard to the ultimate happiness and prosperity of the country. It is either eaten in its crude state as mánta, or smoked as mádat or chándu. In the preparation of mádat, the crude opium is boiled down with the leaves of tobacco, síri, or the like, and used in a sticky or somewhat liquid state. In chándu, the opium is merely boiled down without any admixture, to a still thicker consistency, and rolled into small balls or pills, in which state, when dry, they are inserted into bámbus, and thus smoked. The crude opium is eaten principally by the people in the interior of the country, in the provinces of the native princes: the opium prepared for smoking is used along the coast, and generally in the other islands of the Archipelago; it is prepared by the Chinese. The use of opium, however, though carried to a considerable extent, is still reckoned disgraceful, and persons addicted to it are looked upon as abandoned characters, and despised accordingly. The effects of this poison on the human frame are so well described by the Dutch commissioners who sat at the Hague in 1803, and who much to their honour declared, "that no consideration of pecuniary advantage ought to weigh with the European government in allowing its use," that together with the opinion of Mr. Hogendorp, who concurred with them, I shall insert their statement here. The wish to do justice to authorities, whose views were so creditable to their country and their own character, and the importance of their opinion to an extensive population, will plead an apology for the length of the extract which I now present.
"The opium trade," observe the Commissioners, "requires likewise attention. The English in Bengal have assumed an exclusive right to collect the same, and they dispose of a considerable number of chests containing that article annually at Calcutta by public auction. It is much in demand on the Malay coast, at Sumatra, Java, and all the islands towards the east and north, and particularly in China, although the use thereof is confined to the lower classes. The effect which it produces on the constitution is different, and depends on the quantity that is taken, or on other circumstances. If used with moderation, it causes a pleasant, yet always somewhat intoxicating sensation, which absorbs all care and anxiety. If a large quantity is taken, it produces a kind of madness, of which the effects are dreadful, especially when the mind is troubled by jealousy, or inflamed with a desire of vengeance or other violent passions. At all times it leaves a slow poison, which undermines the faculty of the soul and the constitution of the body, and renders a person unfit for all kind of labour and an image of the brute creation. The use of opium is so much more dangerous, because a person who is once addicted to it can never leave it off. To satisfy that inclination, he will sacrifice every thing, his own welfare, the subsistence of his wife and children, and neglect his work. Poverty is the natural consequence, and then it becomes indifferent to him by what means he may content his insatiable desire after opium; so that, at last, he no longer respects either the property or life of his fellow-creature.
"If here we were to follow the dictates of our own heart only, and what moral doctrine and humanity prescribe, no law, however severe, could be contrived, which we would not propose, to prevent at least that in future, no subjects of this Republic, or of the Asiatic possessions of the state, should be disgraced by trading in that abominable poison. Yet we consider this as absolutely impracticable at present with respect to those places not subject to the state. Opium is one of the most profitable articles of eastern commerce: as such it is considered by our merchants; and if the navigation to those parts is opened to them (which the interest of the state forcibly urges), it is impossible to oppose trading in the same. In this situation of affairs, therefore, we are rather to advise, that general leave be given to import opium at Malacca, and to allow the exportation from thence to Borneo and all the eastern parts not in the possession of the state."
"Opium," says Mr. Hogendorp, "is a slow though certain poison, which the Company, in order to gain money, sells to the poor Javans. Any one who is once enslaved to it, cannot, it is true, give it up without great difficulty; and if its use were entirely prohibited, some few persons would probably die for want of it, who would otherwise languish on a little longer: but how many would by that means be saved for the future. Most of the crimes, particularly murders, that are now committed, may be imputed to opium as the original cause.
"Large sums of money are every year carried out of the country in exchange for it, and enrich our competitors, the English. Much of it is smuggled into the interior, which adds to the evil. In short, the trade in opium is one of the most injurious and most shameful things which disgrace the present government of India. It is therefore necessary at once, and entirely, to abolish the trade and importation of opium, and to prohibit the same, under the severest penalties that the law permits, since it is a poison. The smuggling of it will then become almost impracticable, and the health, and even the lives of thousands, will be preserved. The money alone which will remain in the country in lieu of it, is more valuable as being in circulation, than the profit which the Company now derives from the sale of it.
"This measure will excite no discontent among the Javans, for the princes and regents, with very few exceptions, do not consume any opium, but, as well as the most respectable of their subjects, look upon it as disgraceful. The use of opium is even adduced as an accusation of bad conduct, and considered as sufficient cause for the removal or banishment of a petty chief."
FOOTNOTES:
[34] Asiatic Researches, vol. v. page 219, octavo edition.
[35] See Marsden's Sumatra.