th to October 31st,
1861, and shall briefly describe my own movements, and my observations
of the people and the natural history of the country. To all those who
wish to understand how the Dutch now govern Java, and how it is that
they are enabled to derive a large annual revenue from it, while the
population increases, and the inhabitants are contented, I recommend the
study of Mr. Money's excellent and interesting work, "How to Manage a
Colony." The main facts and conclusions of that work I most heartily
concur in, and I believe that the Dutch system is the very best that
can be adopted, when a European nation conquers or otherwise acquires
possession of a country inhabited by an industrious but semi-barbarous
people. In my account of Northern Celebes, I shall show how successfully
the same system has been applied to a people in a very different state
of civilization from the Javanese; and in the meanwhile will state in
the fewest words possible what that system is.

The mode of government now adopted in Java is to retain the whole series
of native rulers, from the village chief up to princes, who, under the
name of Regents, are the heads of districts about the size of a
small English county. With each Regent is placed a Dutch Resident, or
Assistant Resident, who is considered to be his "elder brother," and
whose "orders" take the form of "recommendations," which are, however,
implicitly obeyed. Along with each Assistant Resident is a Controller,
a kind of inspector of all the lower native rulers, who periodically
visits every village in the district, examines the proceedings of the
native courts, hears complaints against the head-men or other native
chiefs, and superintends the Government plantations. This brings us to
the "culture system," which is the source of all the wealth the Dutch
derive from Java, and is the subject of much abuse in this country
because it is the reverse of "free trade." To understand its uses and
beneficial effects, it is necessary first to sketch the common results
of free European trade with uncivilized peoples.

Natives of tropical climates have few wants, and, when these are
supplied, are disinclined to work for superfluities without some strong
incitement. With such a people the introduction of any new or systematic
cultivation is almost impossible, except by the despotic orders of
chiefs whom they have been accustomed to obey, as children obey their
parents. The free competition of Eu