302 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[March, 
He also mentions the remains of intrenchments by whi^h the city 
was defended, and which are still plainly to be seen near the 
ruins. The Jacatra road is cut through several of them. 
The population of Batavia and its immediate vicinity, .accord- 
ing to a census taken by the British government, in the year eigh" 
teen hundred and fifteen, is computed at sixty thousand. At the 
period of the Potomac's visit, in eighteen hundred and thirty-two, 
it was said to amount to ten thousand more, but probably overran 
that number. We will therefore proceed on the supposition that 
Batavia and its suburbs contain seventy thousand souls. This 
population is divided, or divisible, into several different classes, 
of which the slaves are by far the most numerous, and therefore 
deserve to be first noticed. 
The slaves on the Island of Java are either foreigners them- 
selves, or the immediate descendants of foreigners ; as the native 
Javans are never reduced to this condition; or, if they should 
happen to be seized and sold by pirates, a satisfactory proof of 
their origin would be sufficient to procure their enfranchisement. 
The slave-merchants have, therefore, been under the necessity of 
resorting to the neighbouring islands for a supply, and the greatest 
number has been procured from Bali* and Celebes. These 
slaves are the property of the Europeans and Chinese alone ; the 
native chiefs never require the service of slaves, nor engage in 
the trafl&c of slavery. There are not less than twenty thousand 
of these unfortunate beings in Batavia. 
The next class of foreigners which claim our notice, both for 
numbers and industry, is composed of Chinese, either emigrants 
or their mixed descendants, as they are not allowed to bring any 
Chinese women with them. About a thousand or more used to 
arrive annually at Batavia, from China, in Chinese junks, carrying 
from three to five hundred each, without money or resources, who 
by dint of their industry, soon acquired' comparative opulence. 
* " This disgraceful traffic, it may be hoped, will soon be entirely annihilated. 
While it existed in its full vigour, all prisoners taken in war, all who attempted to 
evade the laws by emigration, all insolvent debtors, and a certain class of thieves, 
were subjected to the sad condition of slavery. These laws still subsist, and are 
enforced, as formerly, for the purpose of procuring the home supply ; but the dimi- 
nution of the foreign demand must limit exceedingly their exercise, and in a short 
time ameliorate the state of the unhappy individuals who have suffered'by tliem." — ■ 
Raffles'' Java. 
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