"We have already told about the coffee that is grown in Java, and how it is sold on government account. Some of the finest coffee estates on the island are in the Bandong district, and nearly all of them are at an elevation of two thousand feet and more above the sea. Coffee will not grow to any advantage in the lowlands near the coast, and very little of it is cultivated there. It needs a high altitude, and some of the plantations are four thousand feet up in the air. Above the last-named elevation tea takes the place of coffee; and it has been found in the last few years that tea will grow in Java on the tops of the highest mountains, provided there is sufficient soil for the roots of the plant to find a holding-place.
"We have been to a coffee estate about ten miles from Bandong, and spent a day there very pleasantly. As before stated, the coffee-trees are cultivated, and the berries gathered, by native laborers under foreign supervision; the process of separating the bean from its husk has been described, and so has the system by which the government buys the coffee from the native producer, and makes a handsome profit on the investment.
TRAIN OF COFFEE-CARTS.
"Our ride to the plantation was a slow one, as we had an uphill road most of the way, and our horses were assisted by oxen. We met several trains of coffee-carts coming down to the plain on their way to the railway terminus; it is fortunate that the coffee is carried down rather than up hill, as its cost in the latter case would be enormously increased. A cart carrying from one thousand to one thousand five hundred pounds of coffee can be easily drawn by a pair of oxen coming down the road, while the same beasts have all they can do to take the empty cart home again. As the carts wound through the tropical forest, they presented a very picturesque appearance with their barefooted drivers, and occasionally we could see the black eyes of a Javanese woman peering out from under the matting that sheltered the bags from sun and rain.
"The gentleman who had charge of the plantation we visited wished us to stay a few days and indulge in a deer-hunt, but we could not spare the time. Deer are numerous in this part of the island, and those who are fond of sport can have an abundance of it if they are in Java in the right time of the year. If you want larger game than deer, you can hunt the rhinoceros and wild bull; and if you want savage brutes, that die hard and fight to the last breath, you can chase the wild-boar. They have tigers in Java, but not so many as in Malacca, and they do not do so much damage to the people, for the reason that they have plenty of game to live upon.
"We had an opportunity to visit a tea plantation, and gladly embraced it, as we wished to see something of the process of raising tea and preparing it for market.
"Most of the tea plantations in Java are on government lands, which are leased to contractors for terms of years—rarely less than ten, and not over twenty. At the beginning of the enterprise the government made cash advances to the contractors, so that they could have the necessary capital for clearing the land and starting their crops; these advances were to be repaid in tea at prices that would give large profits to the contractors, and on this plan a good many plantations were started about forty years ago.
"The government imported skilled workmen from the tea districts of China to instruct the natives in the business, and it also imported a large supply of tea-plants and tea-seed. For the first few years the enterprise was a doubtful one, but after a time it began to pay handsomely. The cost of making the tea was about fifty cents a pound; and as the processes improved, and the character of the tea grew better, the selling price rose till it reached eighty or ninety cents. At these rates it does not take a great deal of study to show that money can be made by raising tea in Java, and the applications for leases of land have increased every year.