JAVA. 29 



honor of their idol, the Jootfje de Batavla^ a hideous likenefs of 

 the Devil (the Dutch only worfhipped him in private) ; the en- 

 thufiafm of the devotees created diforder ; they grew riotous, 

 and a guard fent to reftrain their zeal, executed its comraiflion 

 M'ith great vigor, which excited the rage of the Cbinefe, fo that 

 much blood was flied. The governor and council, under pretence 

 of public fecurity, ordered every Cbinefe to be put to the fword, 

 women and children excepted ; reduced to defpair, they fet fire 

 to their own houfes ; numbers periflied in the flames, and thofe 

 who rufhed out were put to death by the foldiery ; above twelve 

 thoufand periflied in this horrible affair. The Dutch publilhed 

 their account, which is left to the judgment of the reader to be- 

 lieve or difbelieve ; they would make the caufe to have been a 

 regular confpiracy, yet the governor, two of the counfellors of 

 the Indies, and the attorney general, were depofed and impri- 

 foned ; the Dutch certainly thought them guilty. The wealth of 

 the Chinefe feems to have been the inducement to the bloody 

 bulinefs. The governor's effe(5ts, which he was endeavoring to 

 carry to Europe, amounted to half a million fterling. So little 

 were the Dutch apprehenfive of any harm from a new coloniza- 

 tion of the Chinefe, that they permitted any number which 

 pleafed to fettle again in Batavia, and multitudes reforted there 

 as if nothing had happened. The governor thought proper to 

 fend an apology to the emperor of China, which he received 

 with unconcern, confidering that his empire was overcharged 

 with inhabitants, and indifferent to fubje6ts who had deferted 

 the tombs of their anceftors. 



The Chinefe feem to have been on the beft footing with the 



Dutch^ 



