communities at war with all around them, subject to the wants and
miseries of such a condition, drawing a precarious existence from the
luxuriant soil, and living on, from generation to generation, with no
desire for physical amelioration, and no prospect of moral advancement.
Such was their condition down to the year 1822, when the coffee-plant
was first introduced, and experiments were made as to its cultivation.
It was found to succeed admirably from fifteen hundred feet, up to four
thousand feet above the sea. The chiefs of villages were induced to
undertake its cultivation. Seed and native instructors were sent
from Java; food was supplied to the labourers engaged in clearing and
planting; a fixed price was established at which all coffee brought to
the government collectors was to be paid for, and the village chiefs who
now received the titles of "Majors" were to receive five percent of the
produce. After a time, roads were made from the port of Menado up to
the plateau, and smaller paths were cleared from village to village;
missionaries settled in the more populous districts and opened schools;
and Chinese traders penetrated to the interior and supplied clothing and
other luxuries in exchange for the money which the sale of the coffee
had produced.
At the same time, the country was divided into districts, and the system
of "Controlleurs," which had worked so well in Java, was introduced. The
"Controlleur" was a European, or a native of European blood, who was the
general superintendent of the cultivation of the district, the
adviser of the chiefs, the protector of the people, and the means of
communication between both and the European Government. His duties
obliged him to visit every village in succession once a month, and to
send in a report on their condition to the Resident. As disputes between
adjacent villages were now settled by appeal to a superior authority,
the old and inconvenient semi-fortified houses were disused, and under
the direction of the "Controlleurs" most of the houses were rebuilt on a
neat and uniform plan. It was this interesting district which I was now
about to visit.
Having decided on my route, I started at 8 A.M. on the 22d of June.
Mr. Tower drove me the first three miles in his chaise, and Mr. Neys
accompanied me on horseback three miles further to the village of
Lotta. Here we met the Controlleur of the district of Tondano, who was
returning home from one of his monthly tours, and who had agreed to act
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