306 cook's first voyage dec. 



are most delicately fair ; but with the appearance of 

 disease there never can be perfect beauty. People 

 talk of death with as much indifference as they do in 

 a camp ; .and when an acquaintance is said to be 

 dead, the common reply is, " Well, he o*wed me 

 " nothing ;" or, " I must get my money of his exe- 

 " cutors." 



To this description of the environs of Batavia 

 there are but two exceptions. The Governor's 

 country-house is situated upon a rising ground ; but 

 its ascent is so inconsiderable, that it is known to be 

 above the common level only by the canals being 

 left behind, and the appearance of a few bad hedges: 

 his Excellency, however, who is a native of this 

 place, has, with some trouble and expense, contrived 

 to inclose his own garden with a ditch ; such is the 

 influence of habit both upon the taste and the under- 

 standing. A famous market also, called Passar Ta- 

 nabank, is held upon an eminence that rises per- 

 pendicularly about thirty feet above the plain ; and 

 except these situations, the ground, for an extent of 

 between thirty and forty miles round Batavia, is 

 exactly parallel to the horizon. At the distance of 

 about forty miles inland, there are hills of a con- 

 siderable height, where, as we were informed, the 

 air is healthy, and comparatively cool. Here the 

 vegetables of Europe flourish in great perfection, 

 particularly strawberries, which can but ill bear 

 heat ; and the inhabitants are vigorous and ruddy. 

 Upon these hills some of the principal people have 

 country-houses, which they visit once a year ; and 

 one was begun for the Governor, upon the plan of 

 Blenheim, the famous seat of the Duke of Marl- 

 borough in Oxfordshire, but it has never been finish- 

 ed. To these hills also people are sent by the phy- 

 sicians, for the recovery of their health, and the 

 effects of the air are said to be almost miraculous : 

 the patient grows well in a short time, but constantly 

 relapses soon after his return to Batavia. 



