366 BATAVIA CHAP, xvi 



9th. Before four we were at anchor in Batavia road. A 

 boat came immediately on board us from a ship which had 

 a broad pendant flying ; the officer on board inquired who 

 we were, etc., and immediately returned. Both he and his 

 people were pale almost as spectres, no good omen of the 

 healthiness of the country we had arrived at. Our people, 

 however, who might truly be called rosy and plump (for we 

 had not a sick man among us), jeered and flaunted much at 

 their brother seamen's white faces. By this time our boat 

 was ready and went ashore with the first lieutenant, who 

 had orders to acquaint the commanding officer ashore of our 

 arrival. At night he returned, having met with a very civil 

 reception from the She/bandar, who, -though no military 

 officer, took cognizance of all these things. I forgot to men- 

 tion before that we found here the Harcourt Indiaman, Captain 

 Paul, and two English private traders from the coast of 

 India. 



~LOth. After breakfast this morning we all went ashore 

 in the pinnace, and immediately went to the house of Mr. 

 Leith, the only Englishman of any credit in Batavia. We 

 found him a very young man, under twenty, who had lately 

 arrived here, and succeeded his uncle, a Mr. Burnet, in 

 his business, which was pretty considerable, more so, we 

 were told, than our new-comer had either money or credit to 

 manage. He soon gave us to understand that he could be 

 of very little service to us either in introducing us, as the 

 Dutch people, he said, were not fond of him, or in money 

 affairs, as he had begun trade too lately to have any more 

 than what was employed in getting more. He, however, 

 after having kept us to dine with him, offered us his assist- 

 ance in showing us the method of living in Batavia, and in 

 helping us to settle in such a manner as we should think 

 fit. We had two alternatives. We could go to the hotel, a 

 kind of inn kept by order of the Government, where it seems 

 all merchant strangers are obliged to reside, paying J per 

 cent for warehouse room for their goods, which the master of 

 the house is obliged to find for them. We, however, having 

 come in a king's ship, were free from that obligation, and 



