The History of Java, v. 1-2

by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles

Of other cerealia, the jágung chántel is raised very partially in particular districts, at no great distance from the capitals of the interior, and mostly for the purpose of preparing from it, by fermentation, a liquor sometimes drunk by the natives; as a general article of food it cannot be enumerated. The jáwa-wút and jáli are still more confined in their use; although the natives have a tradition, that on the first arrival of the Indian colonists on Java, the former was the only grain found on the island: it yields a pleasant pulp, and is made into several articles of confectionary. As a principal article of food, or a substitute for rice, Indian corn can alone be considered.

In times of scarcity, the natives make use of various kinds of the plantain (musa), also the yam (ubi of the Malays, and uwi of the Javans), the sweet potatoe, katélo (convolvulus batatas), the varieties of which are described in one of the early volumes of the Batavian Transactions, and a number of leguminous vegetables, the various kinds of beans (káchang), together with a species of grass with minute yellow seeds, called túton, which in ancient times is said to have formed a principal article of food, and the dried leaves of some other plants; but, happily, these times seldom occur, and the use of the jágung chántel and jáwa-wút, as well as of the various roots and leguminous vegetables to which I have alluded, is too limited to produce any sensible effects on the inhabitants. Those natives who make use of the Indian corn exclusively, inhabit the highest districts, where the purity of the atmosphere counteracts any injury which their health might otherwise sustain from the want of rice.

From the áren (sagurus rumphii), which grows abundantly in many parts of Java, a substance is prepared, similar in all respects to the true sago of the Eastern Islands. It is particularly useful in times of scarcity, when large numbers of these valuable trees are felled, for the purpose of collecting the pith. The sap yields an excellent sugar of a dark colour, in common use with the natives. The wine or túwak (toddy) prepared from it is superior to that obtained from most other palms.

A very agreeable pulp is prepared from the pith of this tree, pounded with water, and exposed one night to spontaneous evaporation: it is eaten with palm sugar, and found by no means unpleasant by Europeans. The tuberous roots of a species of curcuma, tému láwak, grated and infused in water, yields a similar pulp. Both are denominated pátí, and daily offered for sale along the roads and in the interior.

All the varieties of the cocoa-tree, noticed on Sumatra, are to be found on Java, where its quicker and more luxuriant growth is accounted for by the superiority of soil. The principal varieties of the cocoa-nut are enumerated in one of the early volumes of the Batavian Transactions.

Of the oil-giving plants there are many. The káchang góring of the Malay countries, or, as it is indifferently termed by the Javans, káchang chína, pénden, or tána, is cultivated almost exclusively for the purpose of obtaining its oil, near the capitals of the principal districts, both central and maritime. It requires a very strong soil for its support, and as the cultivation is profitable, the lands which produce it yield high rents. It is never employed as an article of food by itself; but what remains of it after the oil is expressed, forms an ingredient for the seasoning of rice, in one of the common dishes of the natives. The oil is obtained by grinding the seeds between two grooved cylinders, and then separating it either by expression or boiling. The former is chiefly used by the Chinese, and yields as a refuse the oil-cakes, which I formerly observed were employed as manure in some of the gardens near Batavia. Where these cylinders are not in use, the following mode is adopted: the nut having been taken from the ground, is dried by exposure to the sun for a few days; after which the kernel is extracted, and reduced, by successive beatings in the Javan lésung or mortar, to a grain sufficiently small to pass through a sieve; it is then boiled by steam, and having been allowed to cool for twenty-four hours, is put into a basket, and in that state placed between two oblong planks, which, being joined together at one extremity, are forced to meet at the other, on the principle of a lemon-squeezer. The oil exuding from the interstices of the basket is caught on an ox's hide, placed below to convey it to an earthen receiver.

The járak, or palma christi, is cultivated in nearly the same manner as maize, and thrives on similar soils: from this plant is obtained most of the oil for burning in lamps. In extracting the oil from this as well as from the cocoa-nut, various processes are employed, most of which tend to accelerate the rancidity of the oil. A pure cold drawn oil is not known. In the cocoa-nut, if the oil is obtained by expression, the broken nuts from which it is made are exposed till putrefaction commences. In other cases they are grated, and water being poured upon them, the parts mixed with it form sánten, a white milky fluid, which is evaporated till the oil alone remains. As this process requires much time and fuel, a more economical method is often resorted to: the milky fluid is left exposed for a night, when the oily parts rise to the top, and being separated from the water are purified by a very short boiling.

Of the sugar-cane, or according to the native term, tébu (the name by which it is designated, not only on Java, but throughout the Archipelago), there are several varieties. The dark purple cane, which displays the greatest luxuriance, and shoots to the length of ten feet, is the most highly prized. By the Javans the sugar-cane is only cultivated to be eaten in an unprepared state, as a nourishing sweetmeat. They are unacquainted with any artificial method of expressing from it the saccharine juice, and, consequently, with the first material part of the process by which it is manufactured into sugar. Satisfied with the nourishment or gratification which they procure from the plant as nature presents it, they leave the complicated process to be conducted exclusively by the Chinese.

The cane, as in the West Indies, is propagated by cuttings of about a foot and a half long, which are inserted in the ground in an upright direction, previously to the setting in of the rains. The Chinese occasionally use oil-cake for enriching the lands; but where the plant is only raised for consumption in its fresh state, no manure whatever is thought requisite; and a good soil, without such preparation, will yield three or four crops in succession.

The cane is extensively cultivated for the juice in the vicinity of Batavia, where there are numerous manufactories, principally owned by the Chinese. It is also cultivated for this purpose in considerable tracts at Júpara and Pasúruan, and partially in other districts of the eastern provinces, where mills are established for expressing it. Previous to the disturbances in Chéribon, sugar likewise was manufactured in that district in considerable quantities, and furnished an important article of export.