History of the Indian Archipelago. containing an account of the manners, arts, languages, religions, institutions, and commerce of its inhabitants ... With maps and engravings

Front matter

HISTORY OF THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. l'rinlul by George Itamsiiy & Co. R A t A » I1* I* I. I I. I N B . '■■•'- '■' '*■' ■"■■'■ ■■■"■ ■■ '■ "■■■'■ -"■"■'■'"' HISTORY OP THE INDIAN ARCHIPELAGO: CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE MANNERS, ARTS, LANGUAGES, RELIGIONS, INSTITUTIONS, AND COMMERCE OF ITS INHABITANTS. BV JOHN CRAWFURD, F.R.S. I.ATE BRITISH RESIDENT AT THE COURT OF THE SULTAN OF JAVA. WITH MAPS AND ENGRAVINGS. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. III. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE AND CO. EDINBURGH ; AM HURST, ROWNSON, AND. CO. CHEATSIDE, LONDON. 1820. CONTENTS OF VOLUME THIRD.

BOOK VIII.

œ POMTIQAL INSTITUTIONS.; I* ==, -.- -Page Chap. I. — Government, - - 3 Chap. II. — Classification and Distribution of the People, ... 29 Chap. III. — Public Revenue, - 45 Chap. IV. — Laws, - - 75

Chapter I. Government

Forms qf Political Association various. — Despotism increases with Civilization. — Government in the humblest staleof social existence. — Formation of Vdlages or Towns, each a State or Nation. — Form qf Political Association arising out of the Shepherd State unknown — Elective and Federal forms qf Government. — Absolute Monarchies. — Example qf the Federal form of Government in that of the Bugis state of Boni, in Celebes Varieties qf this form of Political Association. — Example qfthe absolute sunn qf Government in that of the Javanese. — Illustrations of the History of Government from an examination of Language. — Oscillation between the Federal and Absolute forms cf Government in the Progress qf Society Influence qf Foreign Manners and Institutions on the forms qf Government among the Indian Islanders. .Examples of every form of social union, from the equality which reigns among savages, to the mo st absolute form of oriental despotism, may be VOL. GOVERNMENT. found within the wide range of the Indian islands.

In these regions, the more abject the state of man in the scale of social improvement, the freer the form of his government ; and in proportion as he advances in civilization, is that freedom abridged, until, at the top of the scale, he is subjected to a tyranny where not a vestige of liberty is discoverable. In short, he enjoys freedom when he has nothing else worth enjoying ; and when the comforts of civil life accumulate around him, he is deprived of the liberty of benefiting by them. No nation, indeed, inhabiting a warm climate has ever known how to reconcile freedom and civilization. In that portion of the globe there is hardly any medium between the unbounded licence of savage independence and uncontrolled despotism. Man there no sooner acquires a little industry and a little property, than he is made a slave on account of them, just as he himself enslaves the docile and laborious animals, while the useless savages of the desert or forest enjoy their freedom.

The cause of this phenomenon is in a good mea sure to be sought for in the softness and fruitful ness of the climate, and the consequent facility of living with little exertion ; in a word, to the ab sence of that wholesome discipline by which man, in severer regions, is bred to habits of hardihood, enterprise, and independence, and certainly not in any imagined innate feebleness of frame, for, on ex- GOVERNMENT. 5 amination, it will be found that the physical consti tution of every race is best adapted for the cli mate it inhabits. An example of the very rudest and earliest form of social polity is afforded in the man ners of the negro tribes which inhabit the mountains of the Malayan Peninsula. The least im proved of these are the tribes which inhabit the mountain Jdrai, in the territory of the Malayan Prince of Queda, bordering upon the empire of Siam.

There are not in the whole mountain above three or four hundred grown persons. This population is subdivided into hordes of thirty or forty families each, who roam about the forests of the mountain, picking up wild roots or honey, and shooting, with poisoned arrows, the smaller game. They seldom stay above fifteen days in one spot, and their houses consist of a few moveable posts, and a little occasional thatch. They are in a state of perfect nakedness, though living in a medium rather inclement, for their usual station is seldom lower than the middle height of a mountain pro bably six or seven thousand feet high. There is a perfect equality of rank among them, and they have, with respect to some descriptions of pro perty, a community of goods. They acknowledge no leader, consulting age and experience just when it suits their purpose, and then only.

Another race of the same people, whose station GOVERNMENT. is farther south, and in a less elevated tract of country, within the'territory of the Malay Prince of Perak, have a wider range of country, — are more numerous, improved, and powerful. They make a prey of the larger game, and have skill enough to encounter and destroy the elephant it self. These people acknowledge the authority of a chief, and have, in their way, a regular form of social polity. The next step in the progress of improvement is the formation of permanent residences. This would be brought about in the peculiar circum stances of the Indian islands, by the acquisition of competent subsistence, either from an improvement in agriculture, — from the discovery of a favourable fishing-ground, with improved skill in fishing, — or from both.

In this manner the village would be formed. For protection from the aggression of neighbouring hordes, and from the attacks of wild animals, the institution of villages is the necessary resource, and must have been coeval, in these, and similar climates, with the first attempt to quit the erratic course of life. In that early period of so ciety, a village and a nation were synonymous terms. * The village or nation thus formed would neces- *" Inthecentreof Anahuac, as well win the Peloponnesus. I.utitnn, ami wherever the civilisation of the human species GOVERNMENT. 7 sarily require a form of polity for the maintenance of internal order, for attack, and for defence ; and for this purpose would elect an elder for their government, — officers to assist him, — and, perhaps, a priest or astrologer to make their peace with Hea ven.

This is precisely the form of the village as sociations which, even at present, exist in Java, and the circumstances which have tended to per petuate them there, while they have disappeared elsewhere, will be afterwards pointed out. The extension of the nation, or the formation of new villages, may be readily imagined. When the population began to press against the means of subsistence in the first association, by the ex haustion of the good lands in the vicinity of the village, or by the incompetency of the supply of fish, it is needless to say, that, in such a state of society, the village could not be extend ed to the formation of a town. Emigrations would be the necessary recourse of the society, and a swarm would be thrown off to form a new settle ment, as near to the parent one as circumstances would permit, in order that the infant settlement might receive its support and assistance.

In several parts of Java, where the population is rapidly increasing, such a process is at present going forwas merely commencing, every city, for a long time, constituted a separate state." — Humboldt' $ New Spain, Book GOVERNMENT. ward. It is not unfrequent to see one, two, or three smaller villages depending upon a greater one, although at several miles distance from it ; and in many cases, the history of the emigration of these little colonies can be traced to no very distant period of years. Among the Malays, too, we find traces of the same progress of population, in the distinct names given to the dependent plantations. When formed on a river, as in their situation they must often be, they are very frequently denominated " child," or " progeny," terms which at once point at their origin.

All the languages, it may be remarked, have a copious phraseology on this subject, while there is but one name in all for town or city, and that a foreign one ; — in short, one borrowed from the Hindus, (Ndgri.) In tracing the progress of social order among the tribes of the Indian islands, I make no reference to the shepherd state. Such a form of society could, in fact, never have existed in these coun tries, from the very nature of things. In regions abounding in rivers and narrow seas, and covered with stupendous forests, emigrations would take place by water, and not by land ; — an important fact, which constantly presents itself to us. The abundance of wild roots, honey, and game, but, above all, of fish, would, in a rude period of society, suo-o-est these as materials of subsistence more easy and ob vious than the taming of cattle.

Minor considera. GOVERNMENT. tions would contribute. The cattle of the Indian islands, in common with those of other tropical countries, afford milk in too meagre quantity to sup ply a material of subsistence. The sheep does not ex ist at all ; and had it existed, would have been an animal of very little value ; for its coat is hair, and not wool ; but had it even been the latter, it would have little contributed to the useful necessities of sa vages, inhabiting a soft and warm climate. The taming of cattle in these countries, therefore, is a considerable effort of civilization; and cattle were in all probability first made subservient to the purposes of agriculture, after that art itself had made considerable advances. Among many of the savage tribes, who procure some portion of their subsistence from the growing of corn, cattle are still unknown.

A tribe which applies the labour of cattle to the pur poses of husbandry, necessarily adds so greatly to its means of supporting an increasing population, that it cannot long remain stationary. The progress of government, from the simplest form of elective magistracy, to the last verge of despotism, may be traced in its various stages. The office of leader, or chief magistrate, at first elective from the whole body of society, would in time become elective from a privileged fa mily, and, in course, hereditary in that family. Wars, conquests, and the spoliation of a hostile horde, would soon give a victorious leader such GOVERNMENT. power and authority as would render him despotic, and, in process of time, the body of the people would be reduced to be the mere slaves of his will. These abstract reflections on the progress of so ciety and government are naturally obtruded upon our attention by those practical illustrations which our observation of the manners of the Indian islanders is constantly presenting.

Among the least improved of the civilized tribes, the petty lords or tyrants of villages, or little districts, have, for offence or defence, found it convenient to associate, and to elect fromamongtheir num ber an individual to preside over their councils. This may be deemed the second great step in the progress of government towards despotism. We have examples of it in all the governments of Cele bes, of the Suluk Archipelago, and less perfect ves tiges in those of Sumatra. In some of these aristo cratic federations, the Presidency is elective from the body of the electors, but more generally from a par ticular family. Such a form of government, 1 imagine, in an earlier period of society, was very general among the civilized tribes, but the same advantages which cn.abled the village chief to usurp over his fellows, would enable the elective president of a confederacy to do the same thing over the federal chiefs.

The office determined to a privileged fa mily would soon become hereditary, and necessarily despotic. Such a change has actually taken place GOVERNMENT. 11 among all the more highly civilized tribes ; for ex ample, the Javanese, the Balinese, and the Malays. No doubt, the arbitrary maxims imported along with the Mahomedan and Hindu religions have contributed, with these internal causes of change, to the establishment of uncontrolled despotism among these tribes. Erom what has been here laid down, it will appear, that, among the tribes and nations of the In dian islands, there are no fewer thanfive distinct forms of social union, besides numerous varieties of each particular form, — beginning with the rudest sa vages, among whom no subordination is recognized, and none required, and proceeding successively, — to the simplest form of elective magistracy, — to the establishment of hereditary monarchy, — of elective confederacies ; — and, lastly, ending with the estab lishment of unlimited despotism.

Among the civilized tribes, the two last forms of government only exist. To these, therefore, it will be necessary to devote more particular attention. With this view, I shall furnish the reader in detail with an example of each, choosing for the federal government a sketch of that of the people of Boni in Celebes, and for the despotic government a similar one of that of the Javanese, supplying as I proceed any necessary or interesting illustrations from the other modifications of social union. The federal state of Boni consists of eight petty GOVERNMENT. states, each governed by its own hereditary despot, while the general government is vested in one of the number elected by the rest. The presidency has been long elective in the family of the Prince of the state of Bontualah, even at present little more than a considerable village.

The princes in their own language are denominated king, Arung, and the only distinction left to the head of the confederacy is to have the letter a appended to this appel lative. The distinction among the Macassars is exactly similar ; they make the word Kraing, or prince, Krainga, when they speak of the supreme head of their confederation. The head of the Boni confederacy can do no thing without the other princes, who are his coun sellors. The public treasure is in their charge, and they decide on peace and war. The same council chooses the Tumilalang, or first minister, by whom, or through whose agents, justice is ad ministered. The chief of the confederacy cannot correspond in his own name on public affairs, but the letters must run thus, " We, the king, and the people of Boni, decree, resolve," &c. I have per used several of these.

The seven counsellors are called from their number Arnug-pitu, which is as much as to say, the council of the seven lords or princes. Besides choosing the head of the confede racy, these are themselves elected. Their offices are hereditary in families, but the council chooses GOVERNMENT. the individual, and not only fills up vacancies by death, but will take upon them to remove an ob noxious individual, and proceed to a new election. Independent of their deliberative functions, the members of the council of seven hold also executive offices ; one, for example, is first minister, another commander of the army, &c. Any individual of the privileged families, even a woman or an infant, is eligible to be raised either to the government of the particular states, or to be head of the general government.

When a wo man or minor, as very frequently happens, is rais ed to the latter office, the constitution provides a guardian. This person is called in their language Madangrang, which means literally " a prop or support." The head of the confederacy cannot separate him self from his council to go on a warlike expedition, or similar employment, without, by a kind of fic tion, making a temporary abdication of the throne. In this case he is at liberty to nominate a viceroy, an officer who, in the Bugis language, is called his Sulewatang, or proxy. The majority of the council then attend the king, and the remainder stay with the Sulewatang to render him assistance. In illustration of this peculiarity of the government, I shall report the substance of a conversa tion which took place in 1814, in the council of Boni, as it was rendered to me from the native GOVERNMENT. language, respecting a meditated attack on the British settlement of Macassar, with the view of throwing off the dependence of Boni on the European authority.

" I am determined," said the king of Boni, " for my own part, (.addressing himself to two of his councillors,) to submit to the English no longer ; and on this account I say, that one of us three must assume the command of the army, I perhaps leading, and you two, one to my right, and one to my left." Arung-China, the commander of the army, observed, " The king of Boni cannot by any possibility take the command while the legitimate commander exists." The king answered, " Do not trouble yourself about that matter, for you know I have a sister whom I can nominate sovereign of Boni, for the time." All the governments of Celebes are formed on principles such as now exemplified in that of Boni, but there is some variety. The most extraordi nary is in that of the Goa Macassars. The kins' is chosen by ten electors, who also choose the officer called, in his capacity of elector, Pachalaya, and in that of first minister, Bachara-bulah.

To this officer belong powers similar to those of the Mayors of the Palace of France. Of his own au thority he can remove the king himself, and direct the electors to proceed to a new election ; he can also remove any member of the council of nine, or Bato-salapang, and direct another to be chosen. GOVERNMENT. 15 The history of this officer's usurpation of such ex traordinary powers is not recorded, but may be readily imagined. The Bugis state of Wajo affords another singular anomaly. There are forty princes in this state, who constitute the great council of the nation. This council is subdivided into three chambers, from each of whicli there are elected two princes, who in their turn elect the chief of the confederacy, called the Matuwa. This smaller council of seven princes, from which, by custom, women are ex cluded, and in which the president, if necessary, has two votes, carry on the affairs of the general government, and decide upon all questions of go vernment, those of peace and war excepted, which must be referred to the great national council of forty.

I am now to furnish the reader with a picture of absolute government, as exemplified in that of the Javanese. This government is a hereditary despo tism, exactly such as is established in all the great empires of Asia. There is no hereditary nobility with privileges to control or limit his authority. He is himself the first minister of religion, so that even religion has but trifling influence in restrict ing his authority ; in short, the monarchs of Java may be considered as among the most absolute of eastern potentates. In every word which relates to the monarch, the servile copiousness of the Ja- GOVERNMENT. vanese language proclaims his unbounded authority. When he is addressed, words which literally imply " the royal feet," and " the royal slave," have superseded all other pronouns of the second and first person.

The usual exordium of a petition to the monarch is, " the royal slave places his life at the royal disposal." The language of adulation has no bounds. It would be sacrilege to call the monarch's head by any other name than that which literally means " the pinnacle of a temple." In the same language his eyes are a " pair of gems," and his face is " the sun." * The prince, on his side, addresses the highest of his subjects in language the most insolent, and " slave," * The of Prince Gelgel in Bali is usually called by the strange title of Dewa-Agung, which literally means the Great Deity or God. The author of the General History of Voyages, quoting the manuscript relation of a Dutch mission to Bali, has the following passage : " Sur 1'aiticle des mœurs, la relation ajoute a la suite, des coutumes barbares de ces peuples, une simple explication de quelques uns de leurs titres fastueux.

Celui de Gusty, qu'on a 111 souvent, ne signilie que conseiller ; mais le roi, ses l'reres ses sœurs et ses fils, sont distingues par le nom de Dewa, e'est a dire Dieu, appellant leur idole meme Dewa Ratus, ou le Grand Dieu (correctly " king gods!") Dans les degres plus eloignes de la tige royale, ou n'employe que letitre de Sava Jang, (Sang yang,) que repond a celui d'angc, et ces epithetes sont les memes pour les deux sexes; la difference qu'on en fait ne consiste que dans les nomi propre»." Vol. XVII. p. 59. i GOVERNMENT. or " fellow," are applied by him alike to the first minister, to a prince of the blood, and to the humblest villager. * In an ethical work, com posed in the reign of the Sultan of Pajang, about 250 years ago, implicit obedience, and unlimited devotion to the sovereign, are recommended in the following odious strain : " He who serves a prince is exalted by an implicit obedience to his will.

Should the monarch order you to embrace * The language of the Malays, and their laws, contain si milar evidence. To shew the spirit of their institutions, I shall quote a few passages from their customary laws. " The forbidden words, say these, are Titah, Barpatek, Marka, Ampun, Darma-kurnia, and Anggurha. If an inmate of the palace apply these terms to any but the prince, to whom they by right belong, he shall be put to death. Isa person without the walls use them, he shall be struck a blow over the mouth at the time he is pronouncing them. If any man direct these words to be addressed to himself, he shall suffer death." ln the sumptuary laws of these people, the same spirit is discernible. The following are examples : "If persons come into the presence chamber, or even en ter the precincts of the palace, wearing clothes of extraordi nary fineness, without the royal approbation, their clothes shall be torn from their backs, and they shall be turned out." — " Isa person use a mat for sleeping on, ornamented with yellow, (the royal colour,) ora yellow coloured pillow, or a yellow handkerchief, the punishment of such offence isdeath." — " If a person wear a golden hilted kris, without the royal orders, such kris shall be taken from him and confiscated."

VOL. III. B GOVERNMENT. the neck of a tiger, do it without delay ; should he order you to kiss the cheek of an angry serpent, do it without hesitation. Do not flinch in either case, for your obedience will gain you renown, and lay for you the foundation of prosperity. When you are ordered to walk over ground strewed with spikes, forthwith walk over it ; you will receive no harm, for, even should death be the consequence, the reward of your devotion will be a smooth road to heaven." In their extravagant efforts to appear servile, the Indian islanders may almost literally be said to mimic the gait and manners of the very beasts of the field. In approaching the sovereign, the subject creeps or goes on all-fours, and retires in the same humiliating manner. He never stands erect, by any chance, in the presence, whatever his occupation.

In the early intercourse of Europeans with the Javanese, a Dutch admiral and his suite, having stood erect before a Javanese monarch, though that monarch was a refugee claiming assistance, the courtiers were so shocked at his presumption, that they began to use force to compel him into an at titude of more humility, and a serious quarrel was the consequence. * • " At Mindanao, they may look at their prince ; but, from the highest to the lowest, they approach him with the great est respect and veneration, creeping my low, and ofttimei on GOVERNMENT. 19 The languages of the tribes which have the fede ral and aristocratic forms of government, have no such extravagant expressions as those now alluded to, for with them there are many competitors for panegyric, and no one to make a thorough mono poly of it.

The government of Java, and all the other forms of absolute government, are hereditary in the family of the reigning prince, but the rule of primo geniture, so indispensable to tranquillity, is neither practised nor understood. By custom it is gene rally thought necessary that the heir to the throne should be the son of a legitimate wife, or queen, and not of a concubine. The sovereign, during his lifetime, proclaims the eventual successor, who is honoured as the first subject, but seldom entrust ed with any share in the administration. This practice, whicli is universal in all the absolute forms of social polity, deserves to be looked upon as an improvement on these forms of government. Under the Javanese monarch, a minister, or Patch, and four assistants, superintend the administration of the country.

Two of the assistants are intended to aid in the management of the their knees, with their eyes fixt on him, and when they with draw, 'they return in the same manner, creeping backwards, and still keeping their eyes on him, till they are out of sight-" Dumpier, Vol. I. p. 143. GOVERNMENT. household, and two in the conduct of the affairs of state, which is as much as to say, that these two departments are of equal importance, — perhaps, af ter all, no small concession from a despot. The minister and his assistants form a council, the de liberations of which are, as occasion may require, assisted by calling in those heads of departments, whose advice may be deemed useful, as the Pang kulu, or High Priest, in matters of religion and jurisprudence ; and the governors of provinces in such affairs as touch their respective jurisdictions.

The administration of the provinces is conduct ed by the vicegerents of the prince, who execute, each within his jurisdiction, all the authority of the sovereign, or nearly the whole of it. They have, as he has, their Pateh, or minister, and he his as sistants. A miniature of the same form of administration is discovered, indeed, in the very vil lages, from which, in effect, the whole institution originally took its origin, as already pointed out. The authority of the immediate deputy of the sovereign is divided and subdivided in proportion to the extent of his province or jurisdiction. This department of administration, in Java, in conse quence of the groat changes brought about by the extension of agriculture, and the increase of population, is not so well defined as in the more station ary state of society in Bali, to which I shall, there- 60VERNMENT. fore, refer.

The smallest subdivision in Bali is into twenty families, five of which constitute the second subdivision of the hundred, under an officer called in that country Kliyan-tempek. From two to three of these, according to the nature of the country, constitute the third division, under an of ficer called Parbakal. Several of these, according to the extent of the district, constitute a province under the authority of the Gusti, lord or viceroy. The imperfect relics of similar institutions are discover able in Java, in the division called Tdtongo, or the " immediate neighbourhood," Machapat, or the four next villages, and Manchagangsal, or the five next villages, and in the jurisdiction of the of ficers called Prapat and Gugunung. These are institutions almost exactly parallel to those of the Hindus, Peruvians, and Anglo-Saxons.

There is no sensible reason to believe that either borrowed from the other simple and natural contrivances, which readily occurred to barbarians in the same state of society. In all these cases the deputy of the sovereign is vested with nearly his whole authority. The au thority of the chiefs of smaller subdivisions diminish downwards, each being amenable in his turn to his immediate superior ; the vicegerent, in his turn, is amenable to the first minister, and the first minister to the sovereign. I have no doubt, that, wherever, in the Archipe lago, despotic government is now established, it GOVERNMENT. must have passed successively through all the other four modes of government adverted to in tracing the history of the forms of political association. An examination of the languages of the people throw a few lights on this interesting subject. * The genuine native term for king in Javanese is Ratu, whicli is the same word that is written Datu in some other languages.

Its literal meaning is grandfather, and by a slight inflection a senior or elder, from which last is taken its figurative mean- * " We have examples of the theocratical forms of govern ment in South America, for such were those of the Zac of Bogota, the ancient Cundinamarca ; and of thelnca of Peru, two extensive empires, in which despotism was concealed under the appearance of a gentle and patriarchal government. But in Mexico, small colonies, wearied of tyranny, gave themselves republican constitutions. Now, it is only alter long popular struggles that these free constitutions can be formed. The existence of republics docs not indicate a very recent civilization." — Humboldt' s New Spain, Book II. chap. 6. — I consider that the argument of this great travel ler in savour of the civilization of the Mexican tribes, de duced from the republican form of their government, is wholly unfounded.

I have no doubt, indeed, but the Mexi can republics were just such institutions as the aristocratic federal associations which 1 have described. In almost every particular connected with the progress of manners and so ciety, the Indian islanders and Americans are more like each other than either is to any other race of men, notwithstanding that no rational ground exists for imagining that the least intercourse ever existed between them. GOVERNMENT. ing, a lord or chief. This brings us to that early period of society, when, perhaps, no form of social contract existed, and the community listened to the advice of the aged and experienced, when they had need of their counsel. From another name or title of the Javanese so vereign, a plausible inference is to be drawn respecting the immediate derivation of the despotic form of monarchy from the federal and aristocratic.