Can it therefore be a subject of surprize, that the arts of agriculture and the improvement of society, have made no greater advances in Java? Need it excite wonder, that the implements of husbandry are simple; that the cultivation is unskilful and inartificial; that the state of the roads, where European convenience is not consulted, is bad; that the natural advantages of the country are neglected; that so little enterprize is displayed or capital employed; that the peasant's cottage is mean, and that so little wealth and knowledge are among the agricultural population; when it is considered, that the occupant of land enjoys no security for reaping the fruits of his industry; when his possession is liable to be taken away from him every season, or to suffer such an enhancement of rent as will drive him from it; when such a small quantity of land only is allowed him as will yield him bare subsistence, and every ear of grain that can be spared from the supply of his immediate wants, is extorted from him in the shape of tribute; when his personal services are required unpaid for, in the train of luxury or in the culture of articles of monopoly; and when, in addition to all these discouragements, he is subject to other heavy imposts and impolitic restraints? No man will exert himself, when acting for another, with so much zeal as when stimulated by his own immediate interest; and under a system of government, where every thing but the bare means of subsistence is liable to be seized, nothing but the means of subsistence will be sought to be attained. The Dutch accuse the Javans of indolent habits and fraudulent dispositions; but surely the oppressor has no right to be surprized, that the oppressed appear reluctant in his service, that they meet his exactions with evasion, and answer his call to labour with sluggish indifference.