Arrival at Batavia. — Contrast with Singapore. lycf 



flag of a Vice-admiral, and the steam-corvette Groningcn, be- 

 sides wliicli we counted some sixty foreign merchantmen, 

 and over a hmidi-ed native boats and coasting vessels. This 

 rather small evidence of commercial activity is the more 

 noticeable when one has just come from the free port of Singa- 

 pore, where several hundred ships are always lying at anchor, 

 sporting the flags of every sea-faring nation, without taking 

 account of the almost innumerable Chinese and Malay coast- 

 ers, trading between Singapore and the other islands of the 

 Sunda Archipelago. Moreover, there are here no small boats 

 plying to and fro, because the communications between the city 

 and the roadstead being over a space requiring an hour and 

 a half to traverse, the transit is necessarily dear, and remains 

 therefore confined within as small limits as possible. For a 

 small boat with two rowers from the roads to the landing- 

 place the charge is from four to five florins {Qs. Sd. to 8s. 4:d.), 

 and 3^ florins (5s. 10c/.) more for a vehicle to transport them 

 to the town. For this reason no artisans, trades-people, or 

 washerwomen will come off" to where the shipping is at an- 

 chor, to take orders — every commission of whatever nature 

 must be executed in the city itself. Here we lay at anchor, 

 an Austrian frigate, surely a most unwonted visitant, from 

 the afternoon till the following morning without one single 

 boat coming off to visit us ! 



N 2 



