The measures actually adopted by the British government may be summed up in a few words. The importation was, in the first instance, restricted within a limited age, and the duty on importation doubled. An annual registry of all slaves above a certain age was taken, and slaves not registered within a certain time declared free. A fee of one Spanish dollar was demanded for the registry of each slave, the amount of which constituted a fund for the relief of widows and orphans. On the promulgation of the act of the British legislature, declaring the further traffic in slaves to be felony, that act, with all its provisions, was at once made a colonial law. Masters were precluded from sending their slaves to be confined in jail at their pleasure, as had hitherto been the case, and all committals were required to be made through the magistrates, in the same manner as in the case of other offenders. These general regulations, with the more rigid enforcement of the prohibition of further importations, and of such parts of the code of regulations for ameliorating the condition of the slaves as had become obsolete, were all to which the local government felt itself competent; but it gave its sanction to an institution set on foot by the English, and joined in by many of the Dutch inhabitants, which took for its basis the principles of the African Institution, and directed its immediate care to a provision for the numerous slaves restored to liberty. [43] Called by the Maláyus _kain pánjang_ or _kain lepás_. [44] Exposé Statistique du Tonquin, &c. vol. i. p. 126. [45] Chapter IV. Manufactures. CHAPTER III. _Importance of Agriculture to Java--Soil--State of the Peasantry--Price of Rice--Subsistence of the Peasantry--Dwelling--Agricultural Stock--Implements of Farming--Seasons--Different Kinds of Land--Rice Cultivation--Maize, &c.--Sugar--Coffee--Pepper--Indigo--Cotton--Tobacco--Tenure of Landed Property._ The island of Java is a great agricultural country; its soil is the grand source of its wealth. In its cultivation the inhabitants exert their chief industry, and upon its produce they rely, not only for their subsistence, but the few articles of foreign luxury or convenience which they purchase. The Javans are a nation of husbandmen, and exhibit that simple structure of society incident to such a stage of its progress. To the crop the mechanic looks immediately for his wages, the soldier for his pay, the magistrate for his salary, the priest for his stipend (or _jákat_), and the government for its tribute. The wealth of a province or village is measured by the extent and fertility of its land, its facilities for rice irrigation, and the number of its buffaloes.