Quinine is made from ground cinchona bark.
No other large part of the East Indies is at all densely peopled. Sumatra, three times as big as Java, has less than one-sixth as many people. If you have seen many automobiles you have seen some of the rubber that is grown in Sumatra and used in the tire factories in America.
One American company owns plantations reaching farther than you can see, and worth many millions of dollars. The work on these rubber plantations of Sumatra is done by immigrants from Java and China, working under Chi nese and Dutch foremen.
The Dutch part of New Guinea is as little used as any other part of New Guinea. The large islands between Borneo and New Guinea are for the most part uninhabited, although many coconuts are produced along their shores. At Makassar in the Celebes is a great European-owned coconut oil mill, where oil for the European market is crushed from nuts brought in by native boats and small steamers.
706. British possessions.—The chief Brit ish possessions, called the Straits Settle ments, are Singapore, Penang, and some other little spots of land along the coast of the Malay Peninsula. But England also rules, indirectly, the native states of this penin sula, very much as the Dutch rule Java.
The native of the Malay Peninsula cannot be hired to do a day's work for any money. He catches a few fish, and his wife raises rice and vegetables in the garden and has a little surplus to sell. The money so gained is enough to buy the few things the Malay wants; so he swims, paddles about in his canoe, and sits in the shade watching the Chinese work.
England has let the Chinese come to these colonies freely. They do nearly all the work that is done in the Malay Peninsula in the tin mines and the rubber and pepper planta tions, and they also run nearly all the retail stores. With the money they save they buy land, and now own many of the large rubber plantations. There are many rich men among their number, for the Chinese are both good workers and good business men.
Singapore (Sec. 438) is a great center for the rubber trade of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, and also for pepper and the other spices that are grown in this region. For the first two or three years while the trees are getting started, pineapples are often grown in the young rubber planta tions. This industry makes Singapore a
great center for the export of canned pine apples grown by Chinese workmen, usually under the employ of Englishmen, but some times under Chinese management.
707. The Philippines are America's chief foreign possession. Altogether there are 7,083 of these islands, and both their area and their population are greater than those - of all the West Indian Islands combined. (Fig. 524.) Find the place on the eastern coast of North America having the same latitude as the northern and southern ends of the Philippine group. Compare Luzon and Pennsylvania in length. Most of these islands are mountainous, many of them are volcanic, and the heavy rainfall makes them naturally forest covered. In Luzon, which is nearly as large as Virginia, there is a large low plain north of Manila. It is crossed by a railroad 120 miles long, and has many ricefields and sugar plantations. The valley of the Cagayan River at the north end of Luzon has an important tobacco industry.
708. The Philippine people.—The people calling themselves Filipinos are of Malay stock, but many tribes of dark-skinned people live in the forested mountains of the interior. Some of these tribes are wild people of the forest, but others are farmers, who show great skill at terracing their hillsides. (Fig. 525.) There are also enough Chinese to take Charge of most of the buying and selling in the cities and towns.
Spain had the Philippines for three centu ries, and during this time the Filipinos became a civilized people, speaking Spanish. The islands became a United States possession in 1899. The American Congress has tried to help the Philippines by (1) giving a just government in which the Philippine congress makes most of the laws; (2) establishing many public schools, where English is taught; (3) building railroads and roads; (4) organizing a department of agriculture to teach the people how to grow crops. These four things have greatly increased the prosperity and comfort of the people of these islands. The Philippines probably have more people who can read and write than all the other East Indian islands com bined. There is a university at Manila, and many intelligent Filipinos also come toAmer ica every year to complete their education.