Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

ECONOMIC CONDITION OF JAVA. 179abandoned to piivate speculators. The yield averages about 6,000,000 pound.sbut the leaf is of iudiffereut quality.Other economic j^lants, such as cacao, the clove, and cinnamon, are not extensivelygrown, and even pepper, formerly the chief resource of the province of Bantam,has ceased to be a profitable industry. Of the 25,000,000 cocoanut trees, about10,000,000 are fruit-bearing.Despite great commercial vicissitudes, tobacco has become one of the importantFig. 71. Teak Fokests between Semarano and Suhabaya.Scftle 1 : 2,500,000.Easb of Greenwicliexports, besides supplying a considerable local consumption. This industry hasalso ceased to be a Government monopoly, and is now largely in the hands of Chinesespeculators. But they are not allowed to cultivate opium, and have to purchasethis drug from the Government, which imports it from India, Persia, andAsia Minor. Indigo, formerly one of the most jealously preserved mo opolies, isnow also surrendered to free labour, and still continues to be an important articleof the export trade despite the competition of the coal-tar dyes. Neither jute,cotton, nor any of the other textile plants are extensively cultivated. AmongstN 2