1832.] 
ISLAND OF JAVA. 
307 
and fifty. These are natives of the Coromandel and Malabar 
coast. They appear to be the remnant of a once extensive class 
of settlers ; but their numbers have considerably decreased since 
the' establishment of the Dutch monopoly. The Amhoynese oc- 
cupy a compong on the left of the Jacatra road ; some of them 
are Christians, — are less stubborn than the Bugges, and have in 
modern times been found to make better soldiers. The Mardy- 
Jcers are natives of different nations or tribes, who, having obtained 
their freedom, live in the city. Many of them are employed in 
the coasting trade, and others are successful cultivators of the soil. 
The burgher class comprehends the Dutch population at Ba- 
tavia, but is so much mixed up with. Portuguese and Malay col-' 
onists, that, as a mass, they can scarcely be called Europeans.- 
The same may be said of other towns on the coast, indeed of 
the Dutch settlements in general throughout the east. To a large' 
proportion of these residents the mother country is only known 
by name ; particularly to the ladies, few of whom have ever been 
in Europe. Their features, and the contour of their faces, be- 
speak European origin ; while their complexion, character, and 
mode of life approach nearer to those of the natives. Though" 
fair, they have none of that healthful ruddy hue seen in Europe- 
and the United States ; but a.pale sickly languor overspreads their' 
countenances. The number of this class in Batavia, always in- 
cluding the suburbs,- is probably now not more than- three thou- 
sand, though in seventeen hundred and ninety-three it exceeded 
six thousand, at which period the whole population was estimated 
at one hundred and sixteen thousand ; out of which died annually 
four thousand. 
The fatahty of the Batavian climate has been without a par- 
allel in history. This city has been designated the storehouse 
of disease ; with how much justice, a few melancholy but au- 
thentic facts vdll clearly demonstrate. Between the years seven- 
teen hundred and fourteen and seventeen, hundred and seventy- 
six, a period of fifty-two years, there perished in the hospitals of 
Batavia above eighty-five thousand sailors and soldiers ; and from 
the year seventeen hundred and thirty to seventeen hundred and 
fifty-two, a period of twenty-two years, the total amount of deaths' 
was more than a million ! 
The physical and immediate causes of this mortality are ob^ 
u2 - 
