Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/81

 PUBLIC REVENUE. 69 ty of the land, except that it is confined to tiet lands, Its amount is but a mere triHe. The west- ern inhabitants of Java term the tax Fdgalantang, and the eastern Pachumplang sometimes sarcasti- cally Pangatvang, or air-taj^y which is as much as to say, that they are not convinced that it is exacted on any reasonable ground ! The demand of one- half the produce of their hibour from the soil does not appear extravagant or unreasonable, so natural does this prerogative of the sovereign appear to them ; but the trifling poll-tax is not so much associated with their habits and feelings, and is consequently unpopular. I conjecture that, in the first instance, it was a tribute levied on conquered countries. The eastern Javanese, when tbey conquered the Sundas, in the reign of the Great Sidtaii, imposed this tax on the conquered people, while the land- tax was left to their natural chiefs. It would be in vain to pretend to render an ac- count of all the irregular contributions and requisi- tions to which a people are liable who labour under the evils of a rude and arbitrary government. At festivals, at marriages and births, wh' ther in the family of the sovereign or of the chief who presides over them, the cultivators are called upon for con- tributions. In the transportation of public pro- perty, or the conveyance of the minions of the court or its officers — in the repair or construction of roads, bridges, and other public works, the ser-