Under the administration of the British government, the free cultivation of coffee, in common with that of all other articles, was permitted to the inhabitants of Bantam, _Chéribon_, and all the eastern districts; and at the time when the island was again ceded to the Dutch, arrangements were in progress for extending the same provision throughout the _Súnda_ districts, under a conviction, that the quantity produced would not be less under a system of free cultivation and free trade, than under a system in which it was found necessary, as one of the first acts of European authority, to compel the native princes to direct "the total annihilation of the coffee culture within their dominions," and to secure by treaty with them the destruction and confiscation of all coffee found in the hands of the natives[46]. A considerable portion of the peasantry, as already observed, have long been accustomed to the cultivation, and it is owing to their skill and experience, as much as to any direct superintendence or interference of the European officers (who generally derive their information from the native chiefs, and have little more to do, than occasionally to ride through the garden with a pompous suite, keep the accounts, and examine the coffee as it is received), that the coffee has so long been furnished for the European market; the experience obtained in the eastern districts, during the last three years, proves at least that coercive measures are unnecessary. There are many parts of Java, particularly the _Príang'en_ regencies, where the soil is peculiarly and eminently adapted to the cultivation; and although it is difficult yet awhile to fix the exact rate at which the coffee might be produced under a free system, it may be calculated to be raised for exportation at about forty shillings per hundred weight. Of the quality of the Javan coffee, in comparison with that of other countries, it may be observed, that during the last years, it has invariably maintained its price in the European market in competition with that of Bourbon, and rather exceeded it, both of them being higher than the produce of the West Indies. During the last years of the British administration on Java, and after the opening of the European market again afforded a demand, about eleven millions of young coffee shrubs were planted out in new gardens. Pepper, which at one time formed the principal export from Java, has for some time ceased to be cultivated to any considerable extent. It was principally raised in Bantam, and the dependencies of that province in the southern part of Sumatra; and in the flourishing state of the monopoly, these districts furnished the Dutch with the chief supply for the European market.