TROPICAL MOUNTAIN ISLAND

between southeastern Asia and Australia lie the islands of the East Indies one of the richest of these is Java the world's most densely populated tropical island our soil is because of the minerals in it that make plants grow these minerals come from the ashes of Java many volcanoes we can raise crops all through the year because we are close to the equator and there is no cold ceiling by farming every possible foot of land from sea level almost to the tops of our mountains we can ship many products abroad and at the same time provide food for our own 50 million people although most of our people are formal millions work in our towns and cities in our warm climate it is not unusual to find open-air workshop where women spin thread for the light cotton clothes we wear we are known all over the world for the skillful way we print delicate patterns on cloth this ancient handicraft is called Bharti our silverware is also widely known Javanese silver is decorated with patterns that were designed thousands of years ago in our restaurants and hold the main dish served at every meal is right for rice is the most plentiful and nourishing of the foods raised on our Island no one tired of eating it for rice can be mixed with me fish vegetables and fossils flavored with hot peppers sweet cinnamon and many other spices which we grow our music dates back to ancient times [Music] throughout Java are many monuments of our old civilization one of the most magnificent of these is the ruined temple of Borobudur or built more than a thousand years ago to honor Buddha long ago our people believed fireguard lived in volcanoes and that whenever the gods were angry they punish the people with destruction today there are 35 active volcanoes on our island these volcanoes have brought us new wealth in destruction because their ashes are rich in minerals and have made our soil fertile [Applause] volcanoes erupt when the tremendous pressure of hot gases from deep inside the earth forces molten rock called lava through weak places in the Earth's crust Java's railroads connects the cities on the coast with the highlands of the Interior the trains bring the supplies up to the farms and plantations along the mountain slope and later take crops and product that down to the sea coat on a mountainous island like ours flat land for farming is limited long ago javanese farmers called huge steps or terraces out of the side of the mountains to make more level land for crops this is called terrace farming and it's practice in many other parts of the world with Flatlanders gift the terraces keep the heavy rains from washing the soil away [Applause] even the grass that grows along the side of our vegetable gardens is not waste it is fed to animals in all Fertile volcanic earth and topical sunshine vegetables real quickly and we raise the roof of the year the trains which travel up and down the mountains of our country pick up different kinds of crops at different elevations half a mile above the sea are some of our large plantations a great importance to the people in many lands or our sin corner forest a major source of quinine the drug needs to sure the deadly fever of malaria more quinine comes from our small island than from any other part of the world after the trunks and branches have been cut into pieces the bar food contains the quinine is removed as soon as the thin corner bro has been cut down a new one is started the young trees are brought from a nursery where they have been protected from the hot Sun than heavy rain so that the new trees were yield more quinine we graphed a twig from an old tree onto the young in sheds the cinchona bark is dried and crushed into powder [Music] the station near this in kona plantation is the highest point on the railroad line from here the Train begins its decent the bales of crushed in Kona bark will go to factories in the cities where the quinine will be expected at about the same elevation existing cone upon our railroads past other plantations on which tea is grown the tea shrubs grow well here because the Sun is hot and there is plenty of rain [Music] the youngest please make the best tea [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] the baskets of tea leaves are light and weight and are carried by the women to the processing plant at the factory the leaves are old and dried in oven the dried leaves are then sorted according to size you Ricky is packed in cases filled with tin foil to keep out the death knell and protect the fine flavor of the leaves the texts of GR sent down to the cities for shipment to other lands the train continues on its way down from the highlands loaded with bales of sin corner and chests of tea about a thousand feet below the tea plantations the climate grows warmer but not extremely hot here our people raise sizes the essential plant looked like clusters of sword in the pointed leaves or long threads of fiber [Applause] the leaves are harvested and taken to a factory which serves several neighboring plantations leaves our first sorted according to size and then put through a machine which switched off the outer covering only the fibers remain the short useless threads are removed and then the long fibers or trim these ISIL fibers will be made into rope and twine more crowded now with passengers and freight the train soon passes groves of cacao trees the fruit of the cacao tree is a pond containing the beans from which cocoa and chocolate are made the workers tap the pod to make sure they are right cacao trees have some right part of the year round the pods are carried to a clearing where they are cracked open when the beans are scooped out they are covered with a wet sugar a pulp they must be spread out in the Sun until the Pope has right away when they are dry the beans have the brown color of cocoa a long road than between the field are cleaned which they're of fruit the trips like a milkweed on the inside of the pod is filled with a soft silky fiber called kapok kapok is light and stays fluffy even when it gets wet it is used to stuff pillows mattresses and life preservers the kapok is brought to a large tent made of netting where the satellite fibers are shaken free of the sea on the last lap of the journey the train finally reaches sea level it is hot and damp here in the lowlands an excellent climate for growing rice our field yield three crops a year and we eat most of the rice we raise the harvesting is largely done by women who cut the stocks with a small knife the threshing is done by hand because there are so many people and so few machines if everyone is needed in the field for picking the stocks are bundled inspect until they can be fresh later once the harvest is over in the fields cleared the ground is prepared for the next crop the irrigation ditches are opened and the farmers start plowing with their water buffaloes between planting the rice paddies are stocked with fish [Applause] when the season is on everyone is a fisherman in the hospital and we also grow sugarcane our small island is one of the world's greatest suppliers of sugar like quinine sighs L&T most of our sugar is grown on large plantation the Canes reach their full growth in the rainy season and I'll cut when the weather is dry the soil and climate of our damp cotton lowland a suitable for still another valuable crop rubber almost half of the world's supply comes from Java planted in great plantations the rubber trees are tapped for their step which is called latex [Music] when the cups of full are tomtom signals workers to hurry the latex to the collection station for in the heat and deafness of all lowlands the staff will quickly spoil [Applause] the fresh latex is strained into that acid or added which makes the liquid thick and fun with this is raw rubber the raw rubber is cut into chunks which can be handled easily [Applause] that's the plantations rail siding the rubber is loaded aboard the train with all the other products of our mountain sides and lowland peel the journey from the mountains down to the sea is coming to an end Java's railroads connect the mountains and the sea coast city the islands largest city and most important harbor is fateh via Batavia is a crowded City in the old part people even live on houseboats and sampan in the narrow canal there is a modern part of the cavea tool with large buildings and wide streets this part of the Terriers who directed the government of our island for many years and who developed its resources Dutch English and American companies owned most of our large plantations and the great deal of our commerce and trade is carried on by foreigners the ships that bring us goods from other lands take to the world the products we have made in workshops and factories and grown in the rich soil of our tropical Mountain Island Java you