Occupations and Productions.— The Ja vanese are almost entirely occupied in agricul ture. There is a small class of fishermen on the north coast and a few artisans in the towns, but the great bulk of the people live directly or in.' directly by the cultivation of the land, in which they have made greater progress than any other Asiatic nation except the Chinese and Japanese. The chief crop is rice, of which with the aid of irrigation, industriously and almost universally applied, two crops are raised in a year. Lands that cannot be irrigated are used for growing pulses, nil-giving plants, cotton, sugar-cane and tobacco; and on the mountain slopes, at an ele vation of 2,000 or 3,000 feet, coffee is cultivated. the most fertile parts of Java," says Craw furd, 'land these from the neighborhood of the high mountains are usually also the most pic turesque, the scenery is at once agreeable and magnificent, and certainly for grandeur and beauty excels all that I have seen even in Italy, that country which in summer bears the nearest resemblance to Java. In such situations we have mountains 10,000 feet high, cultivated to half their height, the valleys below having all the appearance of a well-watered garden, in which the fruit trees are so abundant as to con ceal the closely packed villages"The mechanic arts among the Javanese are not so far advanced as their agriculture. About 30 crafts are prac tised among them, of which the principal are those of the blacksmith or cutler, the carpenter, the sheath maker, the coppersmith, the gold smith and the potter. Bricks and tiles are largely made. The carpenters are skilful in house and boat-building. They make vessels of all sizes from 50 tons down to fishing canoes, and under European superintendence build large ships. The ordinary dwellings of the people are built of a rough frame of timber, thatched with grass or palm leaves and with walls and partitions of split bamboo. The Javanese excel all other nations of the Malay Archipelago in the working of metals. They are especially ski!• ful in the manufacture of the national weapon, the kris or dagger, which is worn by every man and boy above 14 years as part of his ordinary costume, and by many ladies of high rank. They make also excellent gongs of brass, and these with other musical instruments of the same metal have long been exported to the neighbor ing countries. The only native textile material woven by the Javanese is cotton, of which they make only a stout durable calico, and this is purely a domestic manufacture, carried on ex chisively by the women. From raw silk im ported from China, the silkworm not being reared in Java, a coarse cloth is woven by the women. Paper of the nature of the ancient papyrus is a manufacture peculiar to the Javanese.
The greater part of the agricultural lands of Java is claimed by the government of the Netherlands and the private estates are prin cipally in the residencies in the western part of the island. The government or the private landowners can enforce one day's gratuitous work out of seven, and in some cases more, from all the laborers on their estates. In 1882 the greater part of the enforced gratuitous labor for the government was abolished in re turn for the payment of one guilder (40 cents) per head yearly. In 1914 the natives in and Madura had under cultivation 9,607,000 acres. Prior to 1891 the government raised sugar; but since 1891 the sugar is all raised on private properties and on lands hired by the natives, or on lands held on emphyteutic tenure from the government. In 1914 the number of sugar factories was 191 and the yield of sugar was 1,363,380 tons. The yield of coffee in Java for 1914 was 8,696 tons ; of tea, 2903,603 kilo grams; and of cacoa, 1,186,282 kilos.
Trade and Commerce.— The trade of Java is now large, and what was once a burdensome colony has become one of the principal sources of wealth to Holland. The great bulk of the
foreign trade is carried on through the ports of Batavia, Samarang and Surabaya. The i prin cipal exports are sugar, coffee, cinchona, indigo, nutmegs, mace, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, tea, rice, copra, cacoa, tapioca, cochineal, cubebs, at tack, tobacco, hides, India rubber and tin. With the exception of rice, about one-half of which goes to Borneo and China, nearly four-fifths of the exports go to the lietherlands. The principal imports are cotton yarns and cloth, machinery, iron, coal and woolen goods.
Education.—The Europeans and the na tives have separate schools with a slight differ ence in their methods of government. Ample provisions are made by the government for the education of the natives. In 1914 there were 834 government schools, with 175,666 enrol ments, and 494 private schools, with 50,301 pu pils. There is an agricultural college, a mu seum and a fine botanical garden at Buitenzorg and a gymnasium at Batavia. In science the people have made little progress, possessing only a rude notion of astronomy and a slight knowledge of arithmetic. Their architecture at present day hardly deserves the name, though the country abounds with remarkable remains of temples built many centuries ago by the an cestors of the present inhabitants. Of the other fine arts, music is the one in which they have made the greatest progress. They are passion ately fond of it and have generally good taste. Their melodies are wild, plaintive and interest ing and more pleasing to the European ear than any other Asiatic musk. They have wind and string instruments, but their best and most com mon instruments are drums and gongs.
Religion.—All religious denominations are allowed perfect freedom in Java. The Javanese are Mohammedans, which faith was established by Arab conquerors in the 15th century and has almost displaced Brahminism and Buddhism, the ancient religions of the country. In 1914, in Java and Madura, there were 30,000 native Christians.
Ethnology.— The native population of Java com rises two distinct nations, the Sundese and Javanese. avanese. The Sundese occupy the western end of the island and are greatly inferior in number to the Javanese and less advanced in civilization. They speak a distinct language. Both nations are of the Malayan race. They are generally about two inches shorter than the men of the Mongolian and Caucasian races, with round faces, wide mouths, high cheek bones, short and small noses and small, black, deep seated eyes. The complexion is brown with a shade of yellow, and is never black. The hair of the head is thick, black, lank and harsh, and is either scanty or altogether wanting on other parts of the body. A few short, straggling hairs compose the beard. The people are not active and make hut poor runners or wrestlers. They are described as a peaceable, docile, sober, sim ple and industrious people. Mr. Crawfurd, au thor of A Descriptive Dictionary of the In dian Islands,' who lived several years in Java I says: my own experience of them, have no difficulty in pronouncing them the most straightforward and truthful Asiatid people that I have met. The practice of running amuck, so frequent with the other cultivated nations of the archipelago, is of very rare occurrence with them?' They are patient, enduring and easily led when convinced that the orders given are not contrary to the ancient laws and customs of the country, which are held in religious reverence. They are very susceptible of affronts, which they are not slow to avenge with the kris, which is invariably worn, and they are frequently like wise armed with the sabre or pike. The mass of the Javanese take only one wife, but people of quality and wealth take advantage of the lati tude allowed by the Koran and practise polyg amy. All, without distinction, are passionately fond of gaming, more especially of cock-fight ing.