BATAVTA. 



29 



tliese credentials, and explaining my plan to visit tlie 

 Spice Islands for the purpose of collecting the shells 

 figured in Eumphius's " Rai-iteit Kamer " and express- 

 ing the hope that he would do what he could to aid 

 me in my humble attempts to develop more fully the 

 natural history of that interesting region. These 

 papera our consul kindly forwarded, adding a note en- 

 dorsing them himself. 



As the governor-general administers both the 

 civil and military departments of all the Dutch pos- 

 sessions in the East, I could not expect an immediate 

 reply. I therefore foimd a quiet place in a Dutch 

 family, mth two other boarders who spoke English 

 and could assist me in learning theii^ difficult lan- 

 guage, and, bidding Captfdn Freeman and the other 

 good officers of the Memnon farewell, took up my 

 abode on ehoi-e. 



Batavia at present is more properly the name of 

 a district or residency " than of a city. Formerly 

 it was compact and enclosed by walls, but these were 

 destroyed by Marshal Daendals, in 1811, Tlie for- 

 eigners then moved out and built their residences at 

 vaiious places in the vicinity, and these localities still 

 retain their old Malay names, In this part of the 

 cit/ there are several fine hotels, a large opera-house, 

 and a club-house. There are two scientific societies, 

 which publish many valuable papers on the natural 

 history, antiquities, geography, and geology, of all 

 parts of the Netherlands India, These societies have 

 valuable collections in Batavia, and at Buitenzorg 

 there is a large collection of minerals and geological 

 specimens. The " King*s Plain " is a veiy lai^ge open 



