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renders it easy of access, and the European residents visit 
it in large numbers to escape the heat and malaria of 
the capital. Its height above the sea (870 feet) scarcely 
entitles it to be called a sanatorium, and for this purpose 
Sindang Laja, a station on the northern slopes of Gede at 
an elevation of 3 5 0 0 feet, is used, but the climate is delight¬ 
ful as a change from Batavia, the mornings and evenings 
being deliciously cool. Here are the celebrated botanic 
gardens, in which nearly every vegetable product of the East 
is cultivated; to the number, it is said, of over 9000 species. 
The country around is wonderfully picturesque, and the 
view southward looking towards the striking peak of Salak 
is celebrated as one of the most beautiful in the world. 
Life in Batavia may be taken, mutatis mutandis , as a 
good example of life in any other settlement in the 
Dutch East Indies. In the lower town the Malays and 
Chinese lead a semi-aquatic existence around the canals, 
in whose unsavoury waters the germs of cholera may be 
said to be endemic. The same trades, the same street 
scenes are here as the traveller finds at Singapore, but 
there is an even greater mixture of nationalities. Bogge- 
wein, writing in the early part of the seventeenth century, 
speaks of this heterogeneous mixture of different races, 
and it is probable that they have increased rather than 
diminished since his day. Batavia is the great emporium 
of this vast archipelago of Australasia, and from almost 
every island come the praus of the traders laden with 
every sort of product, from the dye-woods of Sumatra to 
the paradise birds of Hew Guinea. The only industry 
specially characteristic of Batavia is the weaving of 
bamboo hats, mats, and boxes, which employs many 
thousands of people during a portion of the year. Vast 
numbers of these hats are made for the Paris market, 
and the value of the export is very considerable. 
