I770, ropeans who have been guilty of crimes- that are not worthv
December. , /
-v---- ' of death: fome are ientenced to remain there ninety-nine
years, fome forty, fome twenty, fome lefs, down to five, in
proportion to their offence; and during their banifhment,
they are employed as flaves in making ropes, and other
drudgery. In another ifland, called Purmerent, they have an
hofpital, where people are. faid to recover much fafter than
at Batavia. In a third, called Kuyper, they have warehoufes
belonging to the Company, chiefly for rice, and other merchandize
of fmall value; and here the foreign fhips, that
are to be laid down atOuruft, another of thefe iflands, which
with Kuyper has been mentioned before, difeharge their
cargoes at wharfs which are very convenient for the pur-
pofe. Here the guns, fails, and other ftores of the Falmouth,
a man of war, which was condemned at this place when file
was returning from Manilla, were depofited, and the fhip
herfelf remained in the harbour with only the warrant officers
on board for many years. Remittances were regularly
made them from home; but no notice was ever taken of the
many memorials they fent, de-firing to be recalled. Happily
for them, the Dutch thought-fit, about fix months before our
arrival, to fell the veffel and all her ftores, by public auction,
and fend the officers home in their own fhips. At Ourufty
they repair all their own fhipping, and keep a large quantity
of naval ftores.
The country round Batavia is for Tome miles a continued
range of country houfes and gardens. Many of the gardens
are very large, and by fome ftrange fatality, all are planted
with trees almoft as thick as they can ftandi fo that the
country derives no advantage from its be-tn-g-cleared of -the
wood that -originally covered it, except the fruit of -that
which has been planted in it-s room. Thefe impenetrable
forefts
forefts ftand in a dead flat, which extends fome miles beyond ' 77°- ' , Decembe
them, and is interfered in many directions by rivers, and v_y—
more ftill by canals,' which are navigable for fmall veffels.
Nor is this the worft, for the fence of every field and garden
is a ditch ; and interfperfed among the cultivated ground
there are many filthy fens,, bogs, and morafles, as well frefh
'as fait.
It is not ftrange that the inhabitants of fuch a .country
fhould be familiar with difeafe and death: preventive medi--
eines are taken almoft as regularly as food ; and every body
expects the returns of ficknefs, as we do the feafons of the"
year. We did not fee a fingle face in Batavia that indicated
perfe£t health, for there is not the leaft tint of colbur in the"
cheeks either o f man or woman : the women indeed are
moft delicately fa ir ; but with the appearance of difeafe
there never can be perfedt beauty. People talk of death
with as much indifference as they do in a camp-, and when:
an acquaintance is faid to be dead, the common reply is,-
“ Well, he owed me nothing or, “ T muft get my money
“ of his executors-.”'
To this defeription of the environs of Batavia there are but
two exceptions. The Governor’s country houfe is fituated
upon a riling'ground; but its afeent is fo inconfiderable, that
it is known to be above the common level only by the canals
being left behind, and the appearance of a few bad:
hedges: his Excellency, however, who is a native of this-
place, has, with fome trouble and expence, contrived to in-
clofe his own garden with a ditch ; fuch is the influence of
habit both upon the tafte and theunderftanding. A famous-
market alfo, called Paflar Tanabank, is held upon an eminence
that rifes perpendicularly about thirty feet above the
plain; and except thefe fituations, the ground, for an extent
of