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renders it easy of access, and the European residents visit 

 it in large numbers to escape the heat and malaria of 

 the capital. Its height above the sea (870 feet) scarcely 

 entitles it to be called a sanatorium, and for this purpose 

 Sindang Laja, a station on the northern slopes of Gede at 

 an elevation of 3 5 feet, is used, but the climate is delight- 

 ful as a change from Batavia, the mornings and evenings 

 being deliciously cool. Here are the celebrated botanic 

 gardens, in which nearly every vegetable product of the East 

 is cultivated ; to the number, it is said, of over 9000 species. 

 The country around is wonderfully picturesque, and the 

 view southward looking towards the striking peak of Salak 

 is celebrated as one of the most beautiful in the world. 



Life in Batavia may be taken, mutatis mutandis, as a 

 good example of life in any other settlement in the 

 Dutch East Indies. In the lower town the Malays and 

 Chinese lead a semi-aquatic existence around the canals, 

 in whose unsavoury waters the germs of cholera may be 

 said to be endemic. The same trades, the same street 

 scenes are here as the traveller finds at Singapore, but 

 there is an even greater mixture of nationalities. Eogge- 

 wein, writing in the early part of the seventeenth century, 

 speaks of this heterogeneous mixture of different races, 

 and it is probable that they have increased rather than 

 diminished since his day. Batavia is the great emporium 

 of this vast archipelago of Australasia, and from almost 

 every island come the praus of the traders laden with 

 every sort of product, from the dye-woods of Sumatra to 

 the paradise birds of New Guinea. The only industry 

 specially characteristic of Batavia is the weaving of 

 bamboo hats, mats, and boxes, which employs many 

 thousands of people during a portion of the year. Vast 

 numbers of these hats are made for the Paris market, 

 and the value of the export is very considerable. 



