238 B A T A V I A. 
The last class of people of which I am to take notice is that 
of the slaves. If at any one place this unhappy race of men 
has been more unnecessarily introduced than at another, that 
place is certainly Batavia, where thousands of free Chinese, 
the best and most handy servants perhaps in the whole world, 
presented themselves in readiness to serve on the most mo- 
derate terms, I confine the observation to those slaves who 
are in servitude to the Dutch ; as the Javanese, though in 
fact little better than slaves to the Princes, are not, however, 
disposable by sale, nor in any way transferable from hand to 
hand, like other property. The slaves of the Dutch are em- 
plo3xd chiefly as artificers, or for domestic purposes. By 
the number that are kept, the wealth and importance of the 
owner are in some degree indicated. Like a stud of horses 
in England, the slaves of Batavia are kept more for parade 
than for real use. While in this condition, as I before ob- 
served, they are not allowed to wear shoes and stockings, in 
order that they may be known in the streets ; for a freeman, 
however poor, will take care to supply himself with at least 
a covering for his legs and feet, in preference even to a coat, 
to avoid carrying about with him the odious badge of slavery. 
Tew as the Dutch are, when compared with their slaves, 
they are less cautious than the Roman people were, who 
would not suffer a proposition to be carried, which was made 
in the Senate, to distinguish the slaves by a particular dress 
from the citizens, lest the number of the former, being 
thus easily ascertainable, might become dangerous to the 
state. 
