' B A T A V I Ao 239 
The slaves of both sexes are hghtlj worked and well fed ; 
and though thev are occasionally punished with great se- 
verity, their punishment is rarely inflicted by the hands, or 
under the direction, of their owners. The usual way is to 
send them to the Fiscal, who is paid some trilling sum for 
each correction ; but when a man possesses a considerable 
number of slaves, he generally bargains with the Fiscal to 
flog them in the lump by the year. The members of the 
Council and of the Court of Justice have the privilege of de- 
manding the exercise of this magistrate's authority, free of 
expence. The usual punishment consists of a certain number 
of stripes, according to the nature of the oflbnce, with 
latlis of bamboo ; and the wounds are generally pickled 
with a preparation of pepper and salt, to prevent morti- 
fication. 
The number of skives annually imported into Batavia 
alone, for the use of the Dutch and half-cast burghers, is 
computed at one thousand. However extraordinary it may 
appear, it is not the less certain, that, in order to keep up the 
establishment of slaves in this declining settlement, it is 
found to be absolutely necessary to continue this large im- 
portation. If any explanation were required for a fact, 
which unfortunatel}'' is established in all countries where 
slavery exists, it may perhaps be here attributed to the excess 
of females above the males, and the- little care that is taken 
of children where there is no connubial tie, and a restrained 
intercourse between the parents. 
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