Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/63

 PUBLIC REVENUE. 61 of the sovereign. There may be here and there a little forbearance, from motives of religion or super- stition, but a proprietary right in the soil, on the part of a subject, according to the present notions of the people, it will not be going too far to assert, would be unintelligible to thein, so strongly con- trasted are their opinions and oiu'S on this point. The more absolute authority of the sovereign in Java, — the greater servility of the people ; — the su- perior fertility of the soil, — and the superior modes of husbandry which prevail, have enabled the sove- reign to exact a larger share of the produce of the soil than in any other part of the Archipelago. One-half the produce of wet lands, and one-third of that of dry lands, are the long established and well known shares of the government. AVhether these ratios have been assumed by the Javanese of themselves, as the highest possible scale of exac- tion which decorum could suggest to such rude financiers, or have been copied from the Hindus, it is not easy to determine, but the exact accord- ance of this scale with that established among the Hindus of the Deccan, from whom the Javanese borrowed so many of their ancient institutions, is good ground for believing that the latter had at least some share in the establishment of this rate of taxation. In the condition of the cultivators there is con- siderable nominal, though perhaps little essential