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contribution of 3,100 rix-JoUars, of upwards of 8,000 1. 

 fterling per annum. 



The cliief govenment of Batavia, and of nil the pofFcffions 

 of the Dutch Eall India company in Alia, is veiled in the 

 council of India, at the head of which is the gov.-rnor- 

 generdl, who relides at a fuperb manlion near Batavia, pof- 

 fefiing unbounded power, afluming a ftate, and exafting 

 tokens of refpeft, nuich greater than any European mo- 

 narch claims. The next in rank is the direftor-general, 

 who is the eldsft counfellor of India ; and to him are en.- 

 truiled the diredlion and controul of the trade oi the company 

 throughout all India, and to Europe. Next in order follow 

 the five ordinary and nine extraordinary counfcllors of India. 

 To the fervants of the company julHce is adminillered by an 

 alTc'.Tibly calhd the council of juftice, independent of the 

 couneilof India, and conlilling of a prefidcnt, eight ordi-ary 

 members, and twu adjutors, taken from the company's fer- 

 vants. 'Fhe citizens und free merchants of India, who are 

 not in the company's fervice, are amenable to a feparate mu- 

 nicipal court of jullice, called the board of fcheepeus or 

 aldermen, eight in number, with a prelident who is a mem- 

 ber of the council of India. Tlie punilhmcnts infliited at 

 Batavia arc exceedingly ftvere, efpecially fuch as are in- 

 flicted upon the Indians; of thefe the chief, and the mod 

 terrible, is Impalement. For taking alive tliofe flaves 

 who are guilty of the aSs of murder called " mucks," 

 the officers of juftice are provided with a pole ten or twelve 

 feet in length, "at the end of which is a kind of fork, made 

 of two pieces of wood three feJt long, which are furnillied 

 ivithin with (harp iron fpikes : this is htld before the objeft 

 whom they willi to apprehend, and in his frenzy he runs 

 into it, and is thus taken. If he happen to be mortally 

 wounded, he is immediately broken alive upon the wheel, 

 without any form of trial, in the prefence of two or three of 

 the counfcllors of jullice. 



The orphan-chamber at Batavia ferves for the whole of 

 the Dutch pofTcffions in India ; and the board conlills of a 

 prefidcnt, who is a counfellor of India, and fix regents, who 

 are appointed by the council of India, with fnbordinate 

 clerks. There are feveral other courts or boards ; as the 

 commifrioners of dvkes and fluices, thofe of bankruptcies, a 

 court of common pleas, a board of controul over marriages, 

 and fevjral others. 



The ellablilhment of regular troops at Batavia, according 

 to the report of captain Parith, cited by fir George Staun- 

 ton, confifts of 1,200 Europeans, of whom 300 are artillery, 

 and the refl infantry. But as this number cannot be main- 

 tai'ied complete in this unhealthy climate, 500 natives were 

 employed, and thus the cilablilhment of European regulars 

 was reduced to 700. Three hundred volunteers of the town 

 are alfo formed into two companies, but not difciplined. 

 The irregulars are vei-y numerous, confiding of enrolled na- 

 tives of Java, who have neverbeen i-mbodied, and of Clilnefc, 

 whom the jcaiouly of the Dutch allows to be armed only 

 with lances. This eilablifliment appears too f nail for any 

 rffeftnal refiftance. Although every man who fettles at 

 Batavia mnft take up arms in its defence, it is acknowledged 

 by one of the counlellurs of the Indies, that their chief de- 

 pendence was on the havock which the climate was likely 

 to make amongit the enemy's forces. The chief proteftion 

 to their ill-manned vclTcls lying in this port, is afforded by 

 the fortified ifiand of On rust, which is well fituated to 

 command the channel that forms the principal paffage into 

 the road. 



The climate of Batavia is finjrnlarly unhealthy, and has 

 proved the occafion of difeafe and of death to inanv of the 

 Dutch fettlers, and other Europeans who have tranfiently 



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vifited this place. The city is fituated in the midft of 

 fwamps and llagnated pools, whence proceeds every morning 

 a collection of pefi^ilential vapours, whenever the fea-brceze 

 fets in and blows over this morafs. The meridian fun raifes 

 from the ftaliow and muddy canals which intcrfeft the 

 town, deleterious miafmata into the air ; and the trees, with 

 which the quays and ilreets are crowded, impede the courfe 

 of the air, by which the putrid effluvia would in fome de- 

 gree be dillip'ated. Befides the noxious circumllances of a' 

 local kind peculiar to this place, the fudden tranfition from 

 a cold nordiern region to the middle of the torrid zone, 

 without the adoption of thofe habits that are requifite in the 

 latter, muft render the human frame more liable to be af- 

 feded by any caufes of difeafe. Heuce it happens that pre- 

 ventive medicines are taken almoft as regularly as food, and 

 everybody expefts the returns of iicknefs, as we do the 

 feafor.s of the year. There are few examples of ftrangers 

 who remain lo^ig in Batavia without being attacked by fever, 

 wh'ch is the general denominv.tion in that place for every 

 kind/if illnefs. The diforder at firil is conuiionly a tertian 

 a^ne, which after two or three paroxyfm.s becomes a double 

 tertian, and then a continued remittent that frequently car- 

 ries olf the patient in a (liort time. The Peruvian bark is 

 feldom prefcribed in any fti'.ge of the difeafe, or it is given 

 in fuch fmall quantities as to be produftive of little benefit. 

 The chief, or rather the fole medicine adminillered, is a fn- 

 lation of camphor in fpirit of wine. It is fuppoled, that of 

 the Europeans of all clafles who come to fettle in Batavia, 

 not always, half the number furvive the year. The place 

 rcfembles in that rcfpeft a field of battle, or a town befieged. 

 The frequency of deaths render faniiliar the mention of ^ 

 them ; and Httle figns of emotion or furprife are manifefted, 

 on hearing that the companion of yefterday is to-day no 

 more. ^Vhen an acquaintance is faid to be dead, the com- 

 mon reflection is, " Well, he owed me nothing ;" or, 

 " I muft get my money of his executors." It appears by 

 a calculation, that the company lole, in general, every year, 

 full one-lifth of their fervants. It is obfcrved, however, that 

 this clin-.ate is not fo fatal to the female Europeans as to the 

 other fex. They feldom cxpofe themftlves to the heat of 

 the fun, make frequent ufe of the cold batli, and live more 

 temperately than the men ; and, for thefe reafons, they 

 may fuffer lefs from the infalubrity of the climate. In the 

 lower town, on the north fide, the mortality is greater, 

 where uninhabited houfes contraft a foul and infedlious air, 

 than in the other parts of the city that are more fully inha- 

 bited. On this account, people not only leave the lower 

 town, but abandon the city altogether, and refide in gardens 

 without the walls, and at as remote a diftance as their em- 

 ployments will allow. This kind of migration increafes 

 fr,.)m year to year, and will probably, in the lapfe of time, 

 pmduce the total abandonment and ruin of Batavia. The 

 iroll tolerable feafon here is from March or April to No- 

 vember, when the rains begin, which lall the reft of the 

 year. The fea-breeze fcts in about ten o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, and conti:uies till four or five in the afternoon ; it 

 becomes then calm till feven or eijrht, when the land-breeze 

 commences, and continues at intervals till day-break, fol- 

 lowed by a calm for the remaining hours of the twenty-four. 

 Tiie heat of the weather at Batavia is not fo exceflive as in 

 fome other parts of the eaft. From July to November, 

 Stavorinus obfcrved, that his thermometer, which hung in 

 the fliade in the open air, flood generally between 84 and 

 90 degrees of Fahrenheit's fcale, in the hotteft part of the 

 day ; once indeed the mercury fofe to 92° : in the morn- 

 ing, it feldom fell lower than 76°. The barometer fcarcely 

 ever varies from the mean height. Sir George Staunton, 



who 



