BAN 



BAN 



BANSWALEH, in Geo-raphy, a ditlria of Hiiidoftan, 

 fituated on the weft pan of Malwa. 



BANSWARA, a town of Hindoftan, in the country of 

 Tclhngana or Galcoiida, twenty miles from Indelovoy. 



BAN.SWARAH, a town of Hindoftan, in the country 

 of Malwa, 75 miles weft of Ougtin, and 105 E.N.E. of 

 Amedabad. N. lat. Z3^ 25'. E. long. 74" 25'. 



BANTAM, a fea-port town in the north-weft part of 

 the ifland of Java, and capital of a kingdom. It is fituated 

 at the bottom of the bay of the lame name, about a quarter 

 of an hour's walk from the fea-fide; and lieu between two 

 branches of a river that defcends from the mountains, in an 

 extenfive plain, behind which there is a range of high and 

 mafly hills extending far to the fouthward. Its diltance 

 from Batavia is about 13 Dutch miles, each of which is 

 about 3-'- Englifh miles. The communication between 

 thefe places by land is very difficult, and almoft imprafticable, 

 on account of the thick forcils and deep moraffes which lie 

 between them; whereas the paflage by water, with the ad- 

 vantage of the land and fea-winds, in the light Indian veflels 

 or proas, called flyers, ia performed in four hours. The 

 town of Bantam is large, but has no walls or fortifications 

 towards the fea, nor any on the land fide, except fort Dia- 

 mond, in which the king's palace (lands. Bantam refembles 

 a grove of cocoa-nut trees rather than a city. The houfes 

 are mere huts, walled up with reeds or canes, plaiftered with 

 clay, and covered with attap or leaves of palm-trees, and are 

 confufedly diipcrfcd, without any arrangement of ftreets; 

 and round each of them is a plantation of cocoa-nut trees, 

 the whole being furrounded by a paling of fplit bamboo, by 

 which every family is wholly fcparatcd from its neighbours. 

 The river of Bantam, at its mouth, is about 170 or 180 feet 

 wide, and is very fhailow. However, at high water and in 

 fpring tides, it is from five to feven feet deep. Above the 

 town it divides into three channels, of which that juft men- 

 tioned is the middle one; the other two branches run into 

 the fea, about the diftance of i| league on each fide. 



The gulph or bay of Bantam, bounded by a point of the 

 fame name and that of Pentang, forms a commodious retreat 

 for fhips, where a great number may anchor in fafety. 

 Within this bay are feveral fmall iflands, which are all unin- 

 habited, except Pulo-Fanjang, or the Long ifland, which is 

 the largjft and in which fonie fifliermen refide. Fi(h are 

 plentiful ; and the inhabitants prefer one called the kaalkop 

 or bald-head, which has fomc rcfemblance to our cod. This 

 bay was formerly famous for being the principal rendezvous 

 of the (hipping from Europe in the eaft. Bantam was the 

 great mart for pepper and other fpicts, from whence they 

 were dilhibuted to other parts of the world. The chief 

 fattoiy of the Englilh as well as Dutch Eaft India com- 

 pany was fettled there. The merchants of Arabia and 

 Hindoftan reforted to it. Its fovereigns were fo defirous of 

 encouraging trade, by giving fecurity to foreign merchants 

 agalnft the violent and revengeful difpofition of the natives, 

 that the crime of murder was never pardoned when committed 

 againft a ftranger, but might be committed by a foreigner for 

 a (ine to the relations of the deceafed. This place fiourifhed 

 for a conljderable time; but the Dutch having conquered the 

 neighbouring province of Jacatra, where they have fince 

 built Batavia, and transferred their principal bufmefs to it ; 

 and the Engli(h having removed to Hindoftan and China, 

 Bantam was reduced to a poor remnant of its former opu- 

 lence and importance. Other circumftauces have alfo acce- 

 lerated its decline. The bay is fo choked up with daily ac- 

 ceflions of new earth waihed down from the mountains, as 

 well as by coral flioals extending a confiderable way to the 

 eaft, that it is inac«c£ibk at prefect to veflUs of burden. 



A fire .ilfo deftroyed raoft of the houfes; and few have been 

 lince rebuilt. With the trade of Bantam the power of its 

 fovereign declined. In his wars with other piinccs of Java, 

 he called in the afTiftance of the Dutch ; and from that 

 period he became, in fa6t, their captive. He refides in a 

 palace, built in the European ftyle, within a fort called the 

 Diamond, fituated in a large open iield, denominated the 

 Pafccbaan, where three roads, leading from different quarters 

 of the town, unite to tlie weftward of the river, and gar- 

 rifoned by a detachment from Batavia; the commander of 

 which takes his orders, not from the king of Bantam, but 

 from a Dutch governor, who lives in another fort, called 

 Speelwyk, adjoining to the town, on the eaft lide of the 

 river, and nearer to the fea fide. The royal palace is an 

 oblong fquarc, 840 feet long, and nearly half as broad; it 

 has regular baftions at the four corners, and feveral lemi- 

 circular places of arms on the fides. Stavorinus couHted 66 

 pieces of cannon, moft of them being brafs, and heavy artil- 

 lery, but old, and few of them fit for fervice. The Dutch 

 garrifon coniil'is of a captain, three fubalterns, and 130 

 privates, who guard the king's perfon, and keep him always 

 in the company's ^lower. None of his fubjefts, nor 

 even his fons, are allowed to approach him without the 

 knowledge of the captain of the Dutch military, who keeps 

 up a regular intercourfe with the commandant at fort Speel- 

 wyk. No Javanefe or Bantammer is ever allowed to pafs 

 the night within the walls of the fort. The approach to it 

 is by a drawbridge, thrown over the moat; and at the gate 

 of the fort an officer and 24 men mount guard night and day. 

 The walls of the king's ieraglio are raifed higher than thofc 

 of the fort, to guard it againft the infpeftion of the curious. 

 When the king's fons arrive at the age of puberty, they are 

 removed from their father, but have each their feparate feraglio 

 or harem. All the fervants of the palace are women, and 

 even the king's attendant guards are females. However, 

 when he appears in public, he is accompanied by his Bantam 

 life-guards, though they are never admitted within the gates 

 of the fortrefs, who, befides their fide arms, which are crifl'es 

 or long daggers, are provided with pikes, having very long 

 and broad iron heads; and when the king goes abroad he is 

 likewife attended by a guard of Europeans from the garri- 

 fon. Befides maintaining a body of native troops, his Ban- 

 tamefe majefty is allowed to keep feveral fmall armed veftels, 

 by means of which iie maintains authority over fome part of 

 the fouth of Sumatra. His fubjefts are obliged to fell him 

 all the pepper they raife in either ifland at a low price, 

 which he has contrafled to deliver to the Dutch at a fmall 

 advance, and much under the marketable value of that com- 

 modity. The religion of the kingdom of Bantam is the 

 fame with that which prevails in the idand of Java, or Ma- 

 hometan ; and the prefent king joins the fpiritual to the tem- 

 poral power, and is high-prieft of this religion ; with which, 

 indeed, he blends fome of the rites and fuperilitions of the 

 aboriginal inhabitants of Java; adoring, for inftance, the 

 great banyan or Indian fig-tree, which is likewife held facred 

 in Hindoftan, and under which religious rites may be con- 

 veniently performed ; in the fame manner as all affairs of 

 ftate are atfually tranfafted by the Bantamefe, under fome 

 fhadowy tree, by moonlight. 



In the middle of the plain, or Pafcebaan already men- 

 tioned, is a large weringa tree, or cafuarina eqnifctifolia, 

 which by its fpreading branches, affords an agreeable fhade ; 

 and at the foot of it a grave, covered witfi a large blue 

 ftone, in which was buried one of the former kings of 

 Bantam. This is regarded by the inhabitants as a very 

 holy place, and held in great veneration. Near this is a 

 building which is ufed as a place of circumcifion for the 



childrea 



