^68 
POINT DE GALLE. 
before we can either reside in it, or even conquer it ; otherwise it 
will ever continue a grave of Europeans. With this the Dutch 
were pleased ; they considered it as an additional protection ; and 
valued not the lives ot thousands. To this circumstance alone I 
believe that Batavia owes its safety to the present moment. A 
canal had been dug between the bay and a small river, for the 
purpose of bringing timber down from the interior, but it is now in 
ruins. 
December 19. — Mr. Salt went out in the palanquin, and took a view 
of the town, and another of the little canal above mentioned, which 
forms a most perfect tropical scene. In the evening I intended to 
drive out, but the rain came on so heavily about four o'clock, that 
I sat down to my journal, and completed it. Towards night the 
lightning was extremely vivid, and the crashes of thunder tre- 
mendous ; and the more alarming here, from the circumstance, that 
the magazine is built in a very insecure place, without any pro- 
tection from the lightning ; even the Dutch themselves allow it is 
fortunate that the whole town has not been destroyed. There is no 
regular rainy season here; but from its situation, at the extremity 
of the peninsula, it gets a share of the rain of each coast, which 
falls in occasional storms at every part of the year. However, in 
general, more rain falls between November and February, than at 
any other time. The bread-fruit* tree grows to the size of the 
chesnut, and is altogether one of the most beautiful trees I have 
seen in Asia. Its produce is sufficient to supply the whole 
country ; and even when Admiral Rainier was here, with several 
iben of war, he was able to distribute a fruit daily to each 
man. We had here excellent yams, good sallading, and cucumbers. 
* Artocarpus incisa. 
