IN THE COCOS-KEELING ISLANDS. 7 



above the sea-level. It contains the Stadthouse, tlie offices of 

 the Government, with the various consulates and banks, all 

 convenient to the wharf and the Custom-house, situated along 

 the banks of canals, which intersect the town in every 

 direction. Round this European nucleus cluster the native 

 village, the Arab and the Chinese " camps." 



Of Chinamen, Batavia contains many thousands of inhabit 



o 



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warehouses, and send the fleet that studs her roads to ride in 

 other harbours ; for every mercantile house is directly dependent 

 on their trade. They are almost the sole purchasers of all the 

 wares they have to dispose of. They rarely purchase except on 

 credit, and a very sharp eye indeed has to be kept on them 

 while their names are on the firm's books, for they are invete- 

 rate, but clever scoundrels, ever on the outlook for an oppor- 

 tunity to defraud. In every branch of trade, the Chinaman is 

 absolutely indispensable, and, despite his entire lack of moral 

 attributes, his scoundrelism and dangerous revolutionary ten- 

 dencies, he must be commended for his sheer hard work, his 

 indomitable energy and j>erseverance in them all. There is 

 not a species of trade in the town, except, perhaps, that of 



^ Many 



bookseller and chemist, in which he does not engage. 



of them possess large and elegantly fitted up toJws or shops, 



h 



filled with the best European, Chinese, and Japanese stores; 

 their workmanship is generally quite equal to European, and 

 in every case they can far undersell their Western rivals. 



The Arab, who like the Chinaman is prevented because of 

 his intriguing disposition from going into the interior of the 

 island, does, in a quiet and less obtrusive way, a little shop- 

 keeping and money-lending, but is oftener owner of s^nie sort 

 of coasting craft, with which he trades from port to port, or 



to the outlying islands. 



The natives of the town — that is, coast Malays and Sun- 

 danese— perform only the most menial work; they arc vehicle 

 drivers, the more intelligent are house servants, small traders, 

 and assistants to the Chinese, but the bulk are coolies. They 

 have no perseverance, and not much intelligence; and are 

 very lazy, moderately dishonest, and inveterate gamblers, but 



otherwise innocuous. 



This was the Batavia — fatal-climated Batavia — of past 



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