1832.] 
ISLAND OF JAVA. 
297 
separated to leave a spot of ground between them large enough 
for the site of their projected city. These branches were again 
united below, and the insulated space enclosed with a quadran- 
gular wall of coral rock, twenty feet in height, flanked with twenty 
redoubts for the mounting of cannon. Four great gates on each 
side opened upon drawbridges, which led to the suburbs. The 
citadel, or castle, was erected on the north side of the city, with- 
out the walls, but surrounded by a wall of its own about thirty 
feet in height. This fortress was flanked by four bastions, the 
names of which are indicative of the vain-glorious affectation of 
their sponsors — -the Diamond, the Pearl, the Sapphire, and the 
Ruby. But let it not be inferred that these precious appellations 
corresponded with the building materials, which were nothing but 
calcareous coral rock, and the indurated lava of some crater 
among the mountains. The walls of the citadel included the 
residence of the governor-general, the chapel, and most of the 
public offices. 
The coral rock for these works was brought from some of the 
neighbouring islands, as there is no stone of any kind to be found 
for many miles or in any direction around the city. The marble 
and granite used in the public edifices, were brought hither from 
China. But the patient Dutch think nothing of such importations. 
New- York was first built with bricks from Holland. Bricks also 
are hberally used in Batavia, but they are manufactured on the 
island. A part of the town wall is built of dense lava, from the 
central mountains of Java. 
Many of these useless high walls, enclosing natural laboratories 
of pestilential miasmata, have been removed by orders of the late 
Governor-general Daendels ; who, during his short administration, 
did much and projected more for improving the health of Batavia, 
as well as facilitating internal intercourse and native* "trade through^ 
out the whole island. That the health of Batavia at the period 
of the Potomac's visit was such is to warrant the commodore's 
removing the frigate to an anchorage nearer to the city, and himself 
and officers daily visiting their friends on shore, is mainly attribu- 
table to the changes and alterations eff'ected by the liberal policy 
of Marshal Daendels ; and had his administration continued until 
his great conceptions had all been realized, Java would have had 
reason to honour him as a philanthropist and a public benefactor. 
