1770. ROUND THE WORLD. &99 



CHAP. XL 



SOME ACCOUNT OF BATAVIA, AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRY; 

 WITH THEIR FRUITS, FLOWERS, AND OTHER PRODUC- 

 TIONS. 



IJatavia, the capital of the Dutch dominions in 

 India, and generally supposed to have no equal 

 among all the possessions of the Europeans in Asia, 

 is situated on the north side of the island of Java, in 

 a low fenny plain, where several small rivers, which 

 take their rise in the mountains called Blaeuwen Berg, 

 about forty miles up the country, empty themselves 

 into the sea, and where the coast forms a large bay, 

 called the Bay of Batavia, at the distance of about 

 eight leagues from the strait of Sunda. It lies in 

 latitude 6 10' S., and longitude 106 50' E. from the 

 meridian of Greenwich, as appears from astronomical 

 observations made upon the spot, by the Reverend 

 Mr. Mohr, who has built an elegant observatory; 

 which is as well furnished with instruments as most 

 in Europe. 



The Dutch seem to have pitched upon this spot 

 for the convenience of water-carriage, and in that it 

 is indeed a second Holland, and superior to every 

 other place in the world. There are very few streets 

 that have not a canal of considerable breadth running 

 through them, or rather stagnating in them, and 

 continued for several miles in almost every direction 

 beyond the town, which is also intersected by five or 

 six rivers, some of which are navigable thirty or forty 

 miles up the country. As the houses are large, and 

 the streets wide, it takes up a much greater extent, 

 in proportion to the number of houses it contains, 

 than any city in Europe. Valentyn, who wrote an 



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