1 697-] THE CITY OF BATAVIA. 221 



This City is so fine, and so considerable in all Respects, 

 that it may well furnish new Subjects of Observation to 

 every Traveller, and especially to the New-comers, who 

 shall not fail to meet with continual Changes and Altera- 

 tions. 



It lies in a flat Country, in the Island of Java, in the 

 sixteenth^ Degree of South-Latitude, and is built altogether 



1 Batavia Observatory is in 6° 7' 36" lat. S., 106° 48' 7" long. E., of 

 Greenwich. In orig. : " au sixihne degre de Latitude Meridionale." 

 The town was surrounded, as Leguat observed, by a rampart faced 

 with stone and fortified with twenty-two bastions. The rampart was 

 environed by a ditch about forty-five yards over, full of water at 

 spring high tides, but nearly dry and stinking at low water during 

 certain seasons. The approaches to the town were defended by several 

 detached forts. In virtue of which prudent measures it was supposed 

 that no enemy could ever surprise the city. 



The city of Batavia might well obtain the appellation of being the 

 Queen of the East, on account of the wealth of its inhabitants, the 

 grandeur of its buildings, and the vast extent of its commerce. This 

 was indeed the heart of the Dutch empire in India, as the island of Java 

 itself constituted the principal source of all its opulence and strength. 

 By the annexation of Holland to France the Dutch were deprived of the 

 protection afforded by their alliance with Great Britain, and Batavia 

 was captured by Sir Samuel Auchmuty, in August 1811, and relinquished 

 to the Dutch after the fall of Napoleon, 1816. 



The fortifications of Batavia were destroyed before the arrival of the 

 British, by General Daendels, with a view to rendering the city more 

 healthy. The town, says Thorn, has certainly a fine appearance, and 

 contains many substantial houses. " The streets are broad, with canals 

 in the middle, on each side of which is a gravelled road for the use of 

 carriages, etc., and on the side next to the houses is a pavement six feet 

 in width, for foot passengers. Rows of trees run along the sides of the 

 canal, and the edge of each footpath, consisting principally of the 

 Inophyllum and Calaba, the Canary Nut-tree, and the Guettarda Spe- 

 ciosa with its odoriferous flowers. The canals, which have numerous 

 bridges over them, are 'generally of the same breadth as the carriage- 

 roads." (Vide Thorn, I. c.,p. 252.) 



" The castle at Batavia", says Thorn, "is very spacious, and contains 

 a number of buildings and extensive warehouses, in the construction of 

 which prodigious labour and expense must have been incurred. Such, 

 however, was the unhealthiness of the place to the troops that they 

 were withdrawn, and the spot converted into a depot for naval and 



