FIRST VOYAGE 101 



be alive at the expiration of the first year, and that of the 

 fifty who might happen to be alive, not ten of those would 

 be in sound health, and probably not less than half of them 

 in the hospital. One would image that no man of common 

 sense would be tempted to reside at Batavia for any con- 

 sideration of interest whatever ; yet such is the insatiable 

 thirst for gold, that men will voluntarily risk the loss of life 

 to obtain it, and even insure the loss of that health, without 

 which the most splendid fortune cannot be enjoyed. 



Any number of ships may anchor in the harbour of 

 Batavia, the ground of which is so excellent, that the 

 anchor will never quit its hold. This harbour is sometimes 

 dangerous for boats, when the sea breeze blows fresh ; 

 but upon the whole, it is deemed the best and most 

 commodious in all India. 



The environs of Batavia have a very pleasing appearance, 

 and would, in almost any other country, be an enviable 

 situation. Gardens and houses occupy the country for 

 several miles ; but the gardens are so covered with trees, 

 that the advantage of the land having been cleared of the 

 wood that originally covered it, is almost wholly lost ; 

 while these gardens, and the fields adjacent to them, are 

 surrounded by ditches which yield not the most fragrant 

 srnell, and the bogs and morasses in the adjacent fields 

 are still more offensive. 



At near forty miles from the town, the land rjses into 

 hills, and the air is purified in a great degree ; to this 

 distance the invalids are sent by their physicians, when 

 every other prospect of their recovery has failed, and the 

 experiment succeeds in almost every instance, for the sick 

 are soon restored to health ; but they no sooner return to 

 the town than their former disorders visit them. 



The choicest fruits are astonishingly plentiful and cheap ; 

 and it is wonderful to see what quantities of them are 

 eaten at Batavia. Two large markets are held weekly, 

 at distant places, for the accommodation of persons 

 residing in different parts of the country. At these 

 markets it is common to see " fifty or sixty cart-loads of 

 the finest pine-apples carelessly tumbled together." ^ 



The Batavians, and the natives of other parts of the 

 island of Java, strew an immense number of flowers about 

 their houses, and are almost always burning aromatic woods 

 and gums, which, it is imagined, is done by way of purifying 

 the air. 



Formerly the island of Java produced no kind of spices 

 but pepper, and the quantity which the Dutch bring 

 annually from thence is very considerable ; but the quantity 

 that is made use of in the country is very small, as the 



