146 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



even in existence. It was only in 1619 that this latter 

 city was estabUshed on the ruins of the Javanese town 

 of Jacatra by the Dutch general Koen, but it was not 

 long in supplanting its rival, and the capital is now of 

 considerable extent, although its population, which, by 

 the census of 1886, was 100,485, is inferior to that of 

 Surabaya. Various misfortunes have hampered its growth. 

 In 1699 the terrific eruption of jNIount Salak swept away 

 its houses and gardens, choked its streams with mud, and 

 rendered it so unhealthy from malaria that it is said that 

 over a million people perished between 1730 and 1752. 

 Until lately the shoaling of its roadstead has still further 

 interfered with its prosperity. At the time of its founda- 

 tion Batavia consisted of a citadel built at the mouth of 

 the little river Liwong, and a small town to the soutli of 

 it, situated in the bend of the stream and protected by a 

 fosse and a wall of fortifications upon its eastern side. 

 The streets were intersected by canals after the Dutch 

 fashion, and these combined with the walls to aggravate 

 the natural unhealthiness of the site, — a fact that was 

 recognised early in the present century by Marshal Daen- 

 dels, at that time Governor. Under his administration 

 the mass of suburbs, of which "VVeltevreden is the nucleus, 

 was first commenced about two miles to the south of 

 the city, and in a few years the latter was deserted by 

 Europeans for the new town. 



There is little either of interest or l^eauty in the first 

 view of Batavia usually obtained by the traveller. His 

 vessel anchors a mile and a half or more from the shore, 

 the flatness of which is its most noticeable feature. The 

 river, as in many of the Java ports, has been canalised, 

 and here the canal extends not only to its mouth, l)ut is 

 built out seaward for nearly three-quarters of a mile. 

 Up this the traveller rows for some distance, past many 



