Dutch Life in Town and Country

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In 1897 some steps were taken in this direction, and a credit of five
millions sterling for a ship-building programme was voted. Its operations
have not yet been brought to a conclusion, but a torpedo fleet has been
created for the defence of the Zuyder Zee, supplementing the defences at
Helder and the Texel. Something has also been done in the same direction
for the defence of Batavia and the ports of Java. The Dutch navy might be
correctly described as a good little one, quite equal to the everyday work
required of it, but not of the size or standard to play an ambitious
_role_. We should not, however, overlook the fact that its addition to the
navy of another Power would be as important an augmentation of strength as
was the case when Pichegru added the Dutch fleet to that of France by
capturing it with cavalry and horse artillery while ice-bound in the
Zuyder Zee. Nor can we always count on a Duncan to end the story as at
Camperdown.

The impression left on an observer of the military and naval classes in
Holland is that they are not animated by a very strong martial spirit.
Clothed in a military costume, they are still essentially men of peace,
who would be sorry to commit an act of violence or do an injury to any
one. The officers as a class are devoted to the technical part of their
work, and are thoroughly well posted in the science of war. But whether it
is due to the long peace, to the spread of prosperity among all classes of
the community, or to the lymphatic character of the race, it is not easy
to persuade one's self that the Dutch army, taken as a whole, is a
formidable instrument of war.

This feeling must be corrected by a study of history, and by recognizing
that there are no symptoms of deterioration in the sturdy qualities of the
Dutch people. Physically and morally the Netherlanders of to-day are the
equals of their forefathers, but the conditions of their national life,
the fortunate circumstances that have so long made them unacquainted with
the terrible ordeals of war, have diverted their thoughts from a bellicose
policy, and have confirmed them in their peaceful leanings. How far these
tendencies have diminished their fighting-power, and rendered them unequal
to accept or bear the sacrifices that would be entailed by any strenuous
defence of their country against serious invasion by a Great Power, must
remain a matter of opinion. Perhaps their organization has become somewhat
rusty. Reforms are admitted to be necessary. The annual contingent is
altogether too small for the needs of the age; a great and efficient
national reserve should be created; and in good time the army ought to be
raised to the numbers that would enable it to man and hold the numerous
and excellent forts which have been constructed at all vital points. The
Dutch plans of defence are excellent, but to carry them all out a very
considerable army would be necessary, and at the present moment Holland
possesses only the skeleton of an army.

Leaving the question of numbers and military organization aside, only
praise can be given to the Dutch soldier individually. He is clean, civil,
good-tempered, and with a far closer resemblance to Englishmen in what we
regard as essentials than any other Continental. The officers are in the
truest sense gentlemen free from swagger, and not over-bearing towards
their men and their civilian compatriots. They represent a genuine type of
manhood, free from artificiality or falsehood. One feels instinctively
that they say what they think, and that they will do rather more instead
of less than they promise.

Chapter XXI

Holland Over Sea

Holland holds the second place among the successful colonizing nations,
though Powers like England, France, and Germany surpass her in the actual
area of their colonies and protectorates. Besides her East Indian
possessions, which form by far the most important part of her colonial
empire, she holds Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, and six small islands,
including Curacao, in the West Indies, and her colonial subjects number
in all more than thirty-six millions, being as many as the colonial
subjects of France and at least seven times the population of the
Netherlands in Europe. The East Indian Archipelago belonging to the
Netherlands consists of five large islands and a great number of smaller
ones. It is not within the scope of a book like this to go into details
of geographical division, but a glance at the map will show us that the
three groups which make up this dependency are extended over a length of
about three thousand miles, and inclucle Java and Sumatra, Borneo,
Celebes, New Guinea, the Timor Laut archipelago, and the Moluccos. The
northern part of Borneo is a British possession, and the eastern half of
New Guinea is divided between England and Germany, while half of the
island of Timor is Portuguese; the rest of the archipelago forms the
possession known as Netherlands India, or the Dutch East Indies. The
most important and the most densely populated of these islands are Java
and Sumatra; at the last census, in 1899, Java alone had twenty-six
millions of inhabitants, more than four times as many as in 1826, but the
richness of its soil is so great that it could support a much larger
population, though the island is only about the same size as England.

Java was taken by the English in 1811 from the French flag, but was
restored at the Peace of Vienna to the Netherlands, together with some of
the other Dutch colonies. As Dr. Bright remarks in his 'History of
England,' 'it has been believed that its value and wealth were not
thoroughly known or appreciated by the Ministry at the time.' It has now
become by far the most important of the Dutch dependencies, and the
favourite colony for fortune-hunters.

Considering the great wealth of the Dutch Indies, it is a little
surprising that so few young men are tempted to go out there to seek
their fortunes. As is usually the case in the tropics, those parts of the
coasts which are low and marshy are very unhealthy for Europeans, who
cannot stay in such places for any length of time without falling victims
to malaria, though the Malays do not seem to be affected by the climate;
but higher up, from 500 to 1000 feet above the sea, it is healthy enough,
and up the hills, in the larger islands, the climate leaves little to be
desired. The temperature generally varies between 70 and 90 degrees all
the year round, though there is a certain amount of difference between
one island and another. North of the equator the rainy monsoon lasts from
October to April, and the dry season from April to October, while on the
south side these seasons are reversed. On the line, however, the
trade-winds and monsoons appear very irregularly, because there are four
seasons instead of two--that is to say, two rainy and two dry--and the
weather is also subject to frequent changes of a local character,
especially in the neighbourhood of mountain-ranges and volcanoes. With
the exception of Borneo and the central part of Celebes all these islands
are volcanic. In the principal group, which stretches from Sumatra and
Java to the Timor Laut archipelago, there are no less than thirty-three
active volcanoes, of which twelve are in Java, besides a number of
so-called extinct ones which may at any moment burst into renewed life.
Some of the smaller islands are merely sunken volcanoes, such as Gebeh,
for instance, and the Banda Islands, where the 'Goonong Api'
(Fire-Mountain) is a living proof. The best known of all these volcanoes
is the terrible Cracatao, one of the three which may be seen in the
Straits of Sunda. Readers may remember the great eruption of 1886, when
half the island of Cracatao and part of the mountain, which was split
clean in two, were swallowed up in the sea, and parts of the coasts of
Java and Sumatra were overwhelmed by the tidal wave that accompanied the
outburst, ships being lifted bodily on to the land and left perched among
the hills. In one day and night 100,000 persons perished, and except a
slight earthquake, which, as earthquakes are not uncommon in that part of
the world, was naturally not regarded as serious, there was no warning of
the impending disaster, for the crater had shown no signs of life for 200
years. During the eruption a roar as of distant artillery could be heard
in the middle of Java, fully 400 miles from the scene.

The form of the islands prevents the existence of very large rivers; the
largest are in Borneo, the only non-volcanic island in the archipelago
which can boast of three navigable rivers each about 400 miles long.
Owing to the narrowness of Java and Sumatra, the rivers flowing towards
the north-east coasts of these islands are very rapid, and as they are
liable to be suddenly swollen by heavy rains, canals have been dug, and
others are in course of construction, to ensure a regular outflow and
protect the land from floods. In an undertaking of this kind the Dutch are
quite at home, for, as every one knows, they are past masters in the art
of taming the waters; but they have not to push back the sea here, as they
have done and are still doing in their native country; the rivers do that
for them, by bringing down masses of gravel and mud, which form wide banks
at their mouths and are soon overgrown with trees. The lighthouse at
Batavia, in Java, was built about the middle of the seventeenth century at
what was then the entrance to the harbour; now it is two and a half miles
from the entrance, the shore having advanced that distance in 250 years.

Before passing to the question of government, it may be well to notice the
principal races with which the Dutch have to deal. Besides the native
population, the Dutch Indies contained in 1892 about 446,000 Chinese,
20,000 Arabs, and 26,000 other Asiatics, but only 55,000 Europeans,
including the soldiers, many of whom are Germans. The greater part of all
these are found in Java. Of the remaining 355 millions the majority are
Malays, including Malays proper and several kindred races, and to this
last class belong the Javanese, who live in Java, Madura, Bally (or Bali),
and Lombok. Natives other than Malays are the Dyaks, in the interior of
Borneo; the Battaks, in the interior of Sumatra; and finally the Papuans,
who inhabit New Guinea, or Papua, and some of the small islands near.
These Papuans are said to be of the same race as the Australian
aborigines, and are the only black people in these islands, the other
inhabitants being light brown or copper-coloured. In religion, most of the
Malays are Mohammedans, but the people of Bally and Lombok are still
Brahmins, while the Dyaks and Battaks are of very primitive faiths. From
remote times until 1478 Brahminism and Buddhism were the principal
religions, but in that year the faith of Islam began to supersede them.
The ancient religions were responsible for a degree of civilization never
arrived at by the Mohammedans, traces of which are seen in the numerous
ruins of cities and temples that must have been of great beauty and
grandeur which are found in Java, and also in the Javanese literature,
which is written in its own peculiar characters, and the 'wayangs,' or
shadow-plays, which are performed on every festive occasion, and all of
which refer to a history of conquest and wars waged in the times of
Brahminism.

Here the problem which confronts the Dutch authorities is the old one of
uniting under one Government populations differing in blood and religion,
a problem which always presents great difficulties and even a certain
amount of danger. The system adopted resembles, to some extent, that
applied to certain native States in British India, and the islands are
governed by native kings and princes, under the paternal supervision of
the Netherlands India Government, which consists of a Governor-General, or
Viceroy, and a Council of four Councillors of State, of which the Viceroy
is President. Under these there are three Governors and thirty-four
Residents, all Europeans, with several Assistant-Residents and
'Controleurs,' each of whom has a district assigned to him, in which he
has to maintain order and see that the land is kept in proper cultivation.
The Indian princes are made Government officials by the fact of being
paid by the Dutch Government, and bear the official titles of Regent,
'Demang,' etc., but they also keep their own grander-sounding titles, such
as 'Raden Adipatti,' and so on, of which they are naturally very proud. It
is the duty of a Resident to advise the Regent of his district and at the
same time to keep a watch on him and see that he does not oppress his
subjects. If a Regent is proved to be guilty of oppression, or in case of
sedition or the fostering of rebellion, he is deposed by the Government,
and a better man is appointed in his place, if possible one of his own
relatives, so that the lower classes may be protected and the authority of
the native nobility be upheld at the same time. In some 'up-country'
districts, in Borneo and Celebes, however, the native rulers are
practically independent, and the Dutch Government is not at present
inclined to assert its authority by force of arms; while in the north-west
of Sumatra, though the Atchinese pirates have at last been suppressed, the
war party is not yet extinct.

Throughout these dependencies the aim of the Government is to rule the
inhabitants through men of their own race, not to substitute
foreigners for natives; and if fault can be found with this policy it
is that too little restraint is put upon the intermixture of the white
and coloured races.

The splendid fertility of the soil and the great quantity of land yet
uncultivated naturally led the Dutch to seek some means by which the
natural advantages of their islands might be put to better use, and to
this end they set to work to overcome the indolent habits of the natives,
who were not inclined to do more than they considered necessary for their
own subsistence, and to induce them to devote more of their time and
energies to agriculture. In return for good roads and bridges and the
protection afforded by the Government, the natives were induced to give a
certain amount of their time to the cultivation of coffee, sugar, indigo,
and other crops. In this way they were taxed not in coin but in labour;
and this system, known as the 'Culture System,' has produced very good
results, especially in Java and Madura. Gradually, however, under the
influence of the younger members of the governing nation, the cultivation
of sugar and partly that of coffee also was dropped by the Government, and
left to private enterprise, but, supervision by the Government being
thereby abandoned, cases occurred of abuse of power by the
_concessionnaires_; and though much has been done to prevent such abuse,
it must be admitted that the condition of native workmen is not so good in
the private concessions as it was under the direct authority of the
Government.

Meanwhile, the outlook is promising; the development of the natural
resources of the islands goes steadily on, though the rate of progress may
not be particularly rapid, and the inhabitants are generally peaceful and
well-behaved, while their number increases at a rate which seems to
indicate continued and growing prosperity. The schools, too, are doing
good work, and more and more of the natives are learning the language of
their rulers. When a Malay has learned enough Dutch to express himself
fairly clearly in that language, he is very proud of the accomplishment,
and seldom misses an opportunity of displaying his knowledge.

One of the greatest drawbacks to the moral advance of the native is the
bad example set by Europeans, on which it will be needful to say more
later. Things are not nearly so bad in this respect as they formerly were,
but still the unprincipled life which many of the white men are leading
gives rise to doubt in the native mind as to the blessings of Western
civilization.

That the native races are generally well-disposed towards the Dutch is
borne out by the number that take service under the Government as police
and as soldiers. Every two or three miles along the Government roads in
Java one may meet a 'Gardoe,' or patrol of the country police, consisting
of three bare-footed Javanese constables, in uniform of a semi-European
cut and armed with kreeses.

As we have already seen, the Army which the Dutch maintain in their East
Indian colonies is quite distinct from the Home Army of Holland. On their
arrival the men are quartered in barracks, and the officers and married
non-commissioned officers find houses at a moderate rent close by. The
barracks consist not of single buildings but of many separate ones, so
that the different races among the native troops may be kept distinct.
Malays, Javanese, Madurese, Amboinese, Bugis, Macassarese, and the rest
must all have separate buildings to themselves. Formerly there were
Ashantees too, but the recruiting of these was stopped when the colony of
St. George del Mina, on the Gold Coast, was transferred to England on the
surrender of British claims in the north of Sumatra; very good soldiers
they were, but cruel in war, giving no quarter, and very difficult to
restrain in the heat of action. The native troops are officered by
Europeans, but the sergeants and corporals are always of the same race as
the men under them.

Great care is taken to safeguard the health of the troops, not only in the
arrangement of barracks and in the selection of positions for garrisons,
which are chosen as much on hygienic as on strategic grounds, but also by
the establishment of military hospitals. In most large towns, and in
smaller places on the coast where forts have been built, there are
military hospitals, and to these any European, whether soldier or
civilian, who falls ill is immediately taken; in fact, no others exist,
except some sanatoria recently founded in the hills. A naval officer who
often visited these hospitals, as well as hospital ships in war time,
describes them as 'models of neatness, cleanliness, order, and
usefulness.' 'Life in such a hospital,' he declares, 'is a luxury, not to
be compared with anything of the kind in neighbouring colonies.'

For many years a considerable force has been constantly employed in
Atchin, and a number of ships of war have been cruising along the coast to
assist in the suppression of piracy.

The Colonial Fleet is made up of some warships built in Holland and others
built in India, expressly for the Indian service, including a number of
small coasting-steamers and sailing-vessels, and a steamer or two
specially detailed for hydrographical work. The necessity for these last
arises from the shoals and coral-reefs which abound in the Java and Flores
Seas, in the Straits of Macassar, and among the Moluccos, and from the
fact that the creeks and river-mouths are very shallow, and full of
convenient hiding-places for pirate proas; it is most important,
therefore, that both men-of-war and merchantmen should be kept supplied
with good charts.

Piracy is an evil which the Colonial Fleet is specially designed to check,
and it used to be very bad at one time before the Ballinese War of 1845.
In the year before this, a Dutch merchantman, the _Overyssel_, stranded on
the coast of Bally, and the crew were massacred, and ship and cargo looted
by the Ballinese. This led to three expeditions; one in 1845, another,
which was undertaken with an insufficient force and ended in disaster to
the Dutch, in 1847, and the third and final one, successfully carried out
by an army of 10,000 men and six warships, together with 6000 auxiliary
troops from the island of Lombok. But while piracy was thus put down to
the east of Java, the Atchinese pirates grew bolder than ever in the west,
and complaints from Malay traders who were Netherlands subjects became
more and more frequent. Numerous punitive expeditions were sent against
the piratical Rajas in the north-west of Sumatra, but in most cases the
real culprits escaped. At last, about 1873, the Government resolved to put
an end to this state of things, and a force under General van Swieten
seized the Kraton, or chief fortress. General van der Heyden took over the
command in 1877, and soon captured and fortified Kota Raja, and two years
later, though his troops suffered heavily from the climate, he had the
whole country of Atchin subdued. The Home Government, however, misled by
the apparent submission of the enemy, did away with military rule before
they had made certain that no treachery was meditated, and on the arrival
of a civil Governor all the advantages which had been won were again lost,
and at last a state of war had to be proclaimed once more. From that time
onward the Atchinese War became a chronic disease, but since an aggressive
policy was adopted in 1898 the war party in Atchin has rapidly diminished,
and it is now almost extinct. Fighting of a guerilla kind is reported from
time to time, but peace is so far restored that the General is able to
send some of his men home, and the people can cultivate their rice-fields
and pepper-gardens unmolested. They are for the most part well disposed
towards the Dutch, whose officers, in their proclamations, have always
been careful to explain that the war was only against the murderers and
robbers who made the coasts and country unsafe, and that no one would be
harmed so long as he went peacefully about his business. Piracy on the
Atchinese coast is now also a thing of the past, and will be so as long as
the Government remains firm.

To turn to more peaceful subjects, Netherlands India is favoured above
most lands in the richness and variety of its products, its mineral wealth
alone being sufficient to make it a most valuable possession from a
commercial point of view. A part of the Government revenue is derived from
the sale of tin, which is found in several islands, and coal-fields exist
in Sumatra and Laut, while gold is found on the west coast of Borneo and
also in Sumatra, where the Ophir district no doubt owes its name to the
presence of the precious metal. Another mineral product is petroleum,
which has made the fortunes of several lucky colonists; it is found in
many places, but the principal supply comes from Sumatra. These are some
of the chief products, but they by no means exhaust the list, nor is the
wealth of the colonies confined to minerals; there are the
pearl-fisheries, for example, amongst the little islands lying south-west
of New Guinea, and the Moluccos contribute mother-of-pearl and
tortoise-shell, but the real wealth of the islands lies in the
extraordinary fertility of the soil. Most of the land is clay, coloured
red by the iron ore which it contains, and will grow almost anything,
besides being very suitable for making bricks. Sugar, tea, coffee, indigo,
and tobacco are grown in large quantities for export, and the principal
crops cultivated by the natives are rice (in the marshy districts), maize,
cotton, and many kinds of fruit which are also grown in British India.
Most of the inhabitants are tillers of the soil, but the maritime natives
are naturally occupied chiefly in the fisheries, and it is a very pretty
sight, at any little fishing village, to see the boats start out for the
hoped-for haul. Just before sunrise scores of little fishing-boats with
bamboo masts and huge triangular mat-sails slip out of the creeks before
the fresh land-wind, which lasts just long enough to carry them to the
fishing-ground in the offing, and about four o'clock in the afternoon a
sea-breeze springs up, and back they all come, generally laden with
splendid fish. The evening breeze often attains such strength that the
little boats would capsize if it were not for a balancing-board pushed out
to windward, on which one or two, or sometimes three, men stand to act as
a counterpoise, so that it may not be necessary to shorten sail. The
Malays excel in boat-building, and rank very high in the art of shaping
vessels which offer the least possible resistance to the water, and their
boats fly over the surface of the sea in the most wonderful manner. If we
except the rude tree-trunks used here and there, the vessels made by the
Malays may serve, and have served, as models for swift sailing-craft all
over the world.

Amongst the other industries for which the Malays, and the Javanese
especially, are noted, the principal is the manufacture of textile
fabrics; sometimes these are very skilfully dyed in ornamental patterns,
and show considerable artistic taste.

Besides boat-building and weaving, the crafts of the blacksmith and
carpenter should be mentioned, and also that of the gold and silver smith,
for this indicates the source of many of the treasures with which wealthy
Dutch homes in the old country abound.

Now that the war in Atchin is practically over it is not unlikely that
the next few years may see greater advances in the commerce and industries
of Netherlands India, especially as the trade returns report that a great
industrial awakening is taking place at the present time in Holland, in
which case there will be a rush of emigrants to the colonies. As has been
said before, the climate out there is not unhealthy as a rule, but of
course Europeans have to adapt their life to their surroundings. Profiting
by the example of the natives, they have learned to make their houses very
airy and cool. A large overhanging roof shades the entrances, front and
rear, and the windows are without glass, except in the old cities, its
place being taken by bamboo Venetian blinds. Verandahs run along the front
and back of the house, which has generally one story only, and never more
than two, and the rooms open either on these verandahs or on a central
room which divides the house through the middle. The kitchen and
store-rooms are in outbuildings at the back, and the garden all round the
house is planted with cocoanut, banana, and mango trees, for the sake of
their shade as well as for the fruit.

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