1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 335 



purchased from Sumatra, Malacca, and almost all 

 the eastern islands. The natives of Java, very few 

 of whom, as I have before observed, live in the 

 neighbourhood of Batavia, have an exemption from 

 slavery under the sanction of very severe penal laws, 

 which I believe are seldom violated. The price of 

 these slaves is from ten to twenty pounds sterling ; 

 but girls, if they have beauty, sometimes fetch a 

 hundred. They are a very lazy set of people ; but 

 as they will do but little work, they are content with 

 a little victuals, subsisting altogether upon boiled 

 rice, and a small quantity of the cheapest fish. As 

 they are natives of different countries, they differ 

 from each other extremely, both in person and dis- 

 position. The African negroes, called here Papua, 

 are the worst, and consequently may be purchased 

 for the least money : they are all thieves, and all in- 

 corrigible. Next to these are the Bougis and Macas- 

 sars, both from the island of Celebes ; these are lazy 

 in the highest degree, and though not so much ad- 

 dicted to theft as the negroes, have a cruel and vin- 

 dictive spirit, which renders them extremely dan- 

 gerous ; especially as, to gratify their resentment, 

 they will make no scruple of sacrificing life. The 

 best slaves, and consequently the dearest, are pro- 

 cured from the island of Bali : the most beautiful 

 women from Nias, a small island on the coast of Su- 

 matra; but they are of a tender and delicate consti- 

 tution, and soon fall a sacrifice to the unwholesome 

 air of Batavia. Besides these, there are Malays, and 

 slaves of several other denominations, whose parti- 

 cular characteristics I do not remember. 



These slaves are wholly in the power of their mas- 

 ters with respect to any punishment that does not 

 take away life ; but if a slave dies in consequence of 

 punishment, though his death should not appear to 

 have been intended, the master is called to a severe 

 account, and he is generally condemned to suffer 

 capitally. For this reason the master seldom inflicts 



