B A T A V 1 A. ,241 
The slaves were summoned to undergo the trial by rice. 
Each slave was directed to open his mouth, into which Avas 
to be thrown a certain quantity of dry rice. The actual 
thief, impressed with the idea that the rice would certainly 
choak him, and that a flogging was better than suftbcation, 
pertinaciously refused to open his mouth. Another mode of 
detecting a culprit is by giving him at night a small stick, 
notched at a certain distance from the end, whilst the master 
keeps another notched exactly in the same manner. Bemg 
persuaded that, if guilty, the notch will be farther removed 
from the end, or that the stick will grow longer before the 
next morning, the slave, in the simplicity of his heart, takes 
good care that this shall not be the case, by cutting from it 
a slice to keep it down to its proper length. 
As none of the Dutch inhabitants are holders of land, be- 
yond the gardens usually annexed to their country villas, and 
the Chinese are incomparably the best gardeners, there are 
no field slaves in the neighbourhood of Batavia ; the whole 
that are imported being either employed for domestic pur- 
poses, or brought up to some useful trade, by working at 
which they earn, for the use of their masters, a higher in- 
terest for the money expended in their purchase and sub- 
sistence than they would be able to procure by employing the 
same capital in any other way. Many of the Malay slaves, 
by industry in their profession, are enabled in a few years to 
purchase their emancipation ; sometimes they are manumitted 
for their long and faithful services ; but most frequently at 
the death of their master, who usually bequeaths to one or 
