THE ISLAND OF JAVA. 169 
organized iichen to the tall tree of the forest, which is con- 
sidered to be the ordinary and gradual process of vegetation 
ia volcanic countries. 
In no port nor harbour, since our departure from Ports- 
mouth, had we met with so great a number of shipping as 
were collected in the bay of Batavia. Large Dutch India- 
men, mostly dismantled for want of men ; English trading 
vessels from Bengal, Madras, and Bombay ; immense Chinese 
junks, whose singular forms seemed to bespeak an antiquity 
as remote as that of Noah's ark ; Malay proas, and Javanese 
canoes ; with three or four French ships carrj' ing into the 
Eastern world, in addition to the natural products of their 
country, the monstrous doctrines of the Rights of Man, were 
promiscuously riding at anchor in the road of Batavia. The 
practical part of these novel doctrines was griev ously com- 
plained of by the officers of one of the French ships. The 
crew, it seems, had one day taken it into their heads that, 
by virtue of the sacred and inalienable principle of all men 
being equal, they had a right to enjoy as good a dinner as 
their officers, no matter who should pay for it ; and accord- 
ingly, having folloAved the dishes into the cabin, they seated 
themselves at table, inviting, in the most obliging manner, 
the Captain and other officers to partake of their own dinner 
with them. These gentlemen, however, finding their autho- 
rity and their property at stake, thought it prudent to make 
application to the government of Batavia for a few German 
troops to instruct their crew in the rights of discipline, and 
in the duties of obedience and subordination. 
