2IO 
B A T A V I A. 
flowers, such as the Nijctanthes or Arabian jasmine (called 
here Sambac), the Phimeria, the Michelia Tchampaca, and 
the Polianthes or tuberose. The whole room was scented 
with the powerful fragrance of these and other odoriferous 
plants, whose perfumes were not, however, unmixed with the 
less agreeable smell of cocoa nut oil. The Governor s daugh- 
ter, who by the mother's side was of a dingy breed, was so 
bespangled with jewels that, according to the Dutchmen's 
valuation, she was whispered to be worth twenty thousand 
rixdollars, or about four thousand pounds, as she then stood. 
These ladies, thus splendidly adorned to appear in com- 
pany, are dressed, when at home, just like their slaves, in 
long loose printed or chequered cotton gowns, bare headed, 
bare necked, bare legged, and bare footed. Their only ob- 
ject at home is to keep themselves cool, and at their perfect 
ease ; and by so doing, and living a more temperate life, 
the mortality is by no means so great among the women as in 
the other sex. 
A little after midnight a magnificent supper was served up 
in the great hall which, it is almost unnecessary to add, con- 
sisted of every luxury and delicacy that the united stores of 
Asia and Europe could supply. The company amounted at 
least to one hundred and fifty persons. The old Governor 
who, with the rest of the Dutchmen, had hitherto kept on 
his full dressed suit of velvet, now threw off his coat and wig, 
and took his seat at table in a light muslin jacket and a night- 
cap. Many of the ladies, follov/ing his example, laid aside 
their spangled gowns, and appeared in their dimity jackets. 
These jolly dames took especial care that the strangers should 
