Java exports, for the consumption and use of the other islands of the Archipelago, including the Malayan ports on the peninsula, rice, a variety of vetches, salt, oil, tobacco, timber, Java cloths, brass ware, and a variety of minor articles, the produce of her agriculture and manufactures, besides occasionally, as the market admits, a considerable quantity of European, Indian, and Chinese goods. Almost the only articles for which Java is at present dependent on its neighbours are gúmbir, imported from Lingen (Ling'ga) and Rhio, where it is produced to the annual amount of from twenty to thirty thousand píkuls,—and pámur, the metal used for damasking the Javan krís, of which a small quantity is imported from Biliton and Célebes, where alone it is found. The following articles, the exclusive produce of the Eastern Islands, are collected at its principal ports, for re-exportation to India, China, and Europe: tin, from Bánka; gold-dust, diamonds, camphor, benjamin and other drugs, edible birds'-nests, bich de mar, rattans, bees'-wax, tortoise-shell, and dyeing woods, from Borneo and Sumatra; sandal and other fine woods, nutmegs, cloves and mace, coarse, wild and damaged spices, káyu-púti and other pungent oils, from the Moluccas; horses and sapan wood, from Sumbáwa; Búgis cloths, and many collections for the Chinese market, from Célebes. Cloths are also sometimes imported from Báli, and pepper is collected at Bánjermásin, on Borneo, and from several of the Malayan states.
The tin brought to Java is almost exclusively from the mines of Bánka. This metal is also exported from several of the other islands, and from the peninsula of Malacca, whence these countries have been considered the Temala of Ptolemy, timáh being the Malayan word for tin; but the quantity obtained from all other sources falls far short of what is procured on Bánka, which exports to the annual amount of thirty thousand píkuls, or nearly forty thousand cwt. of this metal. The mines on Bánka are worked by Chinese, who deliver the metal into the government stores in slabs, at the rate of about eight Spanish dollars the píkul, of one hundred and thirty-three pounds and a quarter.
A very extensive branch of trade is carried on by a direct communication between Java and China, entirely upon Chinese capital, in a description of vessels called junks. From eight to ten of these vessels arrive annually from Canton and Amoi, with cargoes of teas, raw silk, silk piece goods, varnished umbrellas, iron pots, coarse china-ware, sweetmeats, nankeen, paper, and innumerable minor articles, particularly calculated for the Chinese settlers. They are from three to eight hundred tons burthen, and sail at stated periods, generally reaching Batavia with the north-east monsoon, about the month of January. Of all the imports from China, that which produces the most extensive effects on the commercial and political interests of the country is the native himself: besides their cargoes, these junks bring a valuable import of from two to five hundred industrious natives in each vessel. These emigrants are usually employed as coolies or labourers on their first arrival; but, by frugal habits and persevering industry, they soon become possessed of a little property, which they employ in trade, and increase by their prudence and enterprize. Many of them, in course of time, attain sufficient wealth to render themselves independent, and to enable them to remit considerable accumulations yearly to their relations in China. As these remittances are generally made in the valuable articles, such as birds'-nests, Malayan camphor, bich de mar, tin, opium, pepper, timber, leather hides, indigo, gold and silver, the return cargoes of these vessels amount to an almost incredible value.
The quantity of edible birds'-nests alone, annually exported from Java to China on vessels of this description, is estimated at not less than two hundred píkuls, of which by far the largest proportion is the produce of the Javan rocks and hills. It is well known that these are the nests of a species of swallow (hirundo esculenta) common in the Malayan islands, and in great demand for the China table. Their value as a luxury, in that empire, has been estimated on importation to be weight for weight equal with silver. The price which these nests of the best quality have of late years brought in the Canton and Amoi market, has been forty Spanish dollars per káti, of rather more than a pound and a quarter English. They are usually classed into first, second, and third sorts, differing in price from forty to fifteen Spanish dollars, and even to ten and less for the most ordinary. The price in the Batavian market rises as the period for the departure of the junks approaches; but as the principal produce of Java is still a monopoly in the hands of government, it is difficult to fix the price at which they might be sold under other circumstances. Generally speaking, however, they sell throughout the Eastern Islands considerably lower than they are calculated to do in China, which may be accounted for by the perishable nature of the commodity, and the great care necessary to preserve them from the damp, as well as from breakage. On this account, they are seldom bought by European traders. Birds'-nests consigned by the Javan government to the Canton factory in 1813, sold to the amount of about fifty píkuls, at an average rate of about twenty dollars per kati: but this was at a period when the China markets were unusually low.
The quantity of birds' nests obtained from the rocks called Kárang bólang, on the southern coast of Java, and within the provinces of the native princes, is estimated, one year with another, at a hundred píkuls, and is calculated to afford an annual revenue to the government of two hundred thousand Spanish dollars. The quantity gathered besides by individuals, on rocks and hills belonging to them, either in private property or held by farm from the government, in other parts of the island, may amount to fifty píkuls; making the extent of this export not less than one hundred and fifty píkuls, besides the amount of the collections from the other islands of the Archipelago.
In the Malayan islands in general, but little care is taken of the rocks and caverns which produce this dainty, and the nests procured are neither so numerous nor so good as they otherwise would be. On Java, where perhaps the birds are fewer, and the nests in general less fine than those to be met with in some of the more Eastern Islands, both the quantity and quality have been considerably improved by European management. To effect this improvement, the caverns which the birds are found to frequent are cleansed by smoking and the burning of sulphur, and the destruction of all the old nests. The cavern is then carefully secured from the approach of man, the birds are left undisturbed to form their nests, and the gathering takes place as soon as it is calculated that the young are fledged. If they are allowed to remain until eggs are again laid in them, they lose their pure colour and transparency, and are no longer of what are termed the first sort. They are sometimes collected so recently after their formation, that time has not been given for the bird to lay or hatch her eggs in them, and these nests are considered as the most superior; but as the practice, if carried to any extent, would prevent the number of the birds from increasing, it is seldom resorted to, where the caverns are in the possession of those who have a permanent interest in their produce. Much of their excellence and peculiar properties, however, depend on the situation of the place in which they are formed. It has often been ascertained, for instance, that the same bird forms a nest of somewhat different quality, according as it constructs it in the deep recesses of an unventilated and damp cavern, or attaches it to a place where the atmosphere is dry, and the air circulates freely. The nature of the different substances also to which they are fixed, seems to have some influence on their properties. The best are procured in the deepest caverns, (the favourite retreat of the birds), where a nitrous dampness continually prevails, and where being formed against the sides of the cavern, they imbibe a nitrous taste, without which they are little esteemed by the Chinese. The principal object of the proprietor of a birds'-nest rock is to preserve sufficient numbers of the swallows, by not gathering the nests too often, or abstracting those of the finer kinds in too great numbers, lest the birds should quit their habitations and emigrate to a more secure and inaccessible retreat. It is not unusual for a European, when he takes a rock under his superintendence, after ridding it of the old nests and fumigating the caverns, to allow the birds to remain undisturbed, two, three, or even more years, in order that they may multiply for his future advantage. When a birds'-nest rock is once brought into proper order, it will bear two gatherings in the year: this is the case with the rocks under the care of the officers of government at Kárang bólang.
In the vicinity of the rocks are usually found a few persons accustomed from their infancy to descend into these caverns, in order to gather the nests; an office of the greatest risk and danger, the best nests being sometimes many hundred feet within the damp and slippery opening of the rock. The gatherers are sometimes obliged to lower themselves by ropes (as at Kárang bólang) over immense chasms, in which the surf of a turbulent sea dashes with the greatest violence, threatening instant destruction in the event of a false step or an insecure hold. The people employed by government for this purpose were formerly slaves, in the domestic service of the minister or resident at the native court. To them the distribution of a few dollars, and the preparation of a buffalo feast after each gathering, was thought sufficient pay, and the sum thus expended constituted all the disbursements attending the gathering and packing, which is conducted by the same persons. This last operation is however carefully superintended by the resident, as the slightest neglect would essentially deteriorate the value of the commodity[60].
Although the Malayan camphor, which is the exclusive produce of Sumatra and Borneo, is much stronger than the camphor from China, it has not yet been considered an article of extensive export for the European market. It is always, however, in the greatest demand in China, where it is either consumed, or as has been supposed by some, it undergoes a certain process previous to its re-exportation under a different appearance. It is not known in what manner the China camphor for the European market is prepared; and unless the Malayan camphor is used in the composition, it seems difficult to account for the constant demand for it in China, whence it is never re-exported in its original state. Whatever value may be set on the Chinese camphor, that exported from Japan is of a still superior quality, and more in demand for the European market.
Bich de mar is well known to be a dried sea slug used in the dishes of the Chinese: it is known among the Malayan Islands by the name of trípang, and collected on the shores of nearly all the islands of the Archipelago. It usually sells in China at from ten to fifty dollars per píkul, according to its quality, but being an article still more perishable than the birds'-nests, and very bulky and offensive, it seldom composes the cargoes of European vessels. It would be very difficult to ascertain the average price, as it varies according to the difficulties experienced in collecting it, and the immediate demand in the market, for its perishable nature will not admit of the excess of one season being laid by to meet the deficiency of another. It requires constant care on the voyage, and a leaky vessel frequently loses a whole cargo.
Stic-lac, used in dying, is procured in many parts of Java, and can easily be obtained in a quantity sufficient to meet the demand. The insect which yields it abounds in the Bantam districts, and the lac prepared is considered of good quality; but it is not an article which appears to have attracted much attention.