sea to the west, the strait which divides Luzon from Mindoro to the south the province
of Tayabas to the east, the great lake of Bay to the north-east, and’ the wide
■Bay of Manilla to the north. Thus nearly surrounded by water, it is a peninsula
i Zn. T°- 1St -musea of 110 Sreat breadth. Its outline is very irregular, its utmost
pm J £ geographical miles and its greatest breadth 30. Its area will pro-
T t f x about. 860 geographical square miles. It contains two spacious bays, that
of Batangas, which is the smallest, containing one good harbour, and that of Balayan
two. Both these bays are on the Straits of Mindoro.
The geological formation of Batangas is eminently volcanic, and the active volcano
“ » ta tte d on an Mand of the lake of this name, is one of the most remarkable
° j tbe Philippine group (see Taal). In the centre of the province is situated the lake
of laal just; mentioned, with a circumference of 15 leagues,—navigable and having a
valuable fishery. The rivers of Batangas are numerous, but many of them, although
torrents in the wet season, are reduced to empty beds in the dry. The most remarkable
of them is the Bombon, which empties the surplus water of the Lake Taal
into the Bay of Balayan after a course of ten miles. In the mountains is found iron
ore, and the mines of Argut are stated to yield an ore which produces a metal
of a quality equal to that of Biscay.
The soil of Batangas is eminently fertile, but the labours of agriculture are liable
to be interrupted by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions,—the most terrible of the
last on record being that of 1754. The chief products of agriculture are rice and
maiz, cotton, coffee, cacao, and black pepper. Wheat is produced in the more
elevated districts, reminding one, for luxuriant growth, says a Spanish writer, of the
harvests of Valentía. The pastures of Batangas feed numerous herds of swine, horseB
oxen, and buffaloes. The buffalo is chiefly used for labour, and is of especial need’
in a- country almost destitute of roads, and which, in the season of the rains, would
be impassable without them. The horses are greatly esteemed in the market of
Manilla.
The inhabitants of Batangas are of the Tagala nation, and among the most civilised
of the Philippine islanders. In 1849 the province consisted of 17 districts,
and comprehended a population of 221,021, of whom those assessed to the poll-tax
amounted to 42,845, contributing 428,455 reals of plate.
BATANTA. Same of a considerable island lying off the most westerly part
of New Guinea, and computed to have an area of 208 square geographical miles. The
strait between it and the island of Salawati, called by navigators Pitt’s, is navigable
for large ships, but is not considered safe.
BATAYIA. The capital of all the Dutch possessions in India since its foundation
in 1619. In 1610, the Dutch had built a fort, which they named Batavia. This was
besieged by the Sunda princes of Bantam and Jacatra in 1619, and it was on their
defeat in that year that it was resolved to build a town on the ruins of the native
one of Jacatra, and this took the name of the fort. Batavia, consisting at present
of what may be called an old and new town, is situated on the shore of a bay,
some 60 miles wide, but of no considerable depth, studded with islets, in south
latitude 6° 8', and east longitude 106° 50'. The site of the old town, as already
mentioned, is that of the old native capital, Sund-kalapa, or “Sunda of the coco-palms,”
called in the polite language, from the Sanscrit, Jayakarta, popularly Jacatra,
meaning “ work of victory.” The land on which it stands is little above the level of
the sea, and consists of a recent alluvial formation, which, bored to the depth of 270
feet, has been ascertained to consist of layers of clays, sands, and marls. The new
town, originally suburbs of the old, lies inland from it, and is generally 30 feet above
the sea level. Through both, there runs a river of no great size, but with a rapid
current, having its source in the mountains of the interior, at the distance of some 50
miles. The native name of this stream is Chai-liwung, meaning “ perplexed river.”
For some years after its foundation, the climate of Batavia had not been remarked
for insalubrity; and certainly the ancient Jacatra had not been unhealthy, or it
would have been speedily, as it would be easily and cheaply, removed.’ The
European-built town, however, soon acquired a proverbial reputation for insalubrity.
The Dutch, unmindful of a difference of some 45 degrees of latitude, determined
on having a town after the model of those of the Netherlands, within six degrees of
the equator and on the level of the sea. The river spread over the town in many
handsome canals, lost its current, deposited its copious sediment, and generated pestilential
malaria, which were transported by the land-wind even to the roads. Fatal
remittent fevers followed. This state of things was aggravated, 80 years after the
„ , f ,, •, . succession of violent earthquakes, which took place on
produced the fall of a portion of the
the 4th and 5th of Noje , which partially changed its course, and
» f t * « * *» •»«k* “ » <“ * » '
Batavia, covering their ' t aTJPlied until the vigorous The obvious remedy for the evil was not appne u « ^ coandtminiuneidst ruantdioenr
of Marshal Daendels, un d e r t e , ^ ^ canals were filled up, and
th e government of th e restoration m l 817. Many ot th e cana* carried
th e river was carried between p ie rs f o r i * « ? m to th e a t ’pregent>
* * & * * * * The
■ 1 1 B B f e t e a f c a a a a g g s . *
.„ I mji .i to1 b1 eq SAAoA m aontd. ta ocen «su,2s 1ta1k. enT iwne 1n8ty50 j eramise «d it to t348o,¿-¿5. rines,e a»rSe ’ gSreat,
increased to 118,000, and a ce enumerations referred to the same localities.
I ® °ÎnAÎ8H tlie^nurnber o'f<ChineseÏ T S d Î c e n l S
B S . Bali and Celebes was ?4 239, which had diminished, in 1834, to 9500 ;
and in 1850 to 7556. This decline took place through manumission, the cessation of
“ e sîave-trade, the cheapness of free labour, and the generous indisposition of the
1622, gives a truthful and g i^ h ie
picture of its heterogeneous population, applicable at the present day
f n T worth transcribing. “ There cannot be anything more curious, says this
intelligent old writer, “ or any spectacle more entertaining, than to see in so largeji
citv such a multitude of different nations living—all of them at their own dwellings
after their own manner. One sees, every moment, new customs, strange manners,
• Itt nf habits and faces of different colours—black, white, brown, olive. Every
P M f f l B K ê a f l i S Ë & s s s g s & i
harmoniously in every respect, and live easily and happily under the gentle and
prudentTaws established under the. East India Company.” The laws which our
author here lauds for their prudence and gentleness ought, however, m his time, to
be considered as questionable in this sense, when he himself tells us that, but a few
months before his arrival, a great conspiracy for the 8°V
TYippj- had been discovered, and the conspirators put to death by torture.
The population of Batavia, considerable as it is, and affording evidence of an amount
of public prosperity which could never have sprung up under a native government, is
fe t fiu less than it ought to be, if we consider that it was founded on the rums of a
native capital—that its locality is peculiarly favourable to trade—that its neighbour-
hoodls eminently fertile—that it is the capital of a population of probably not less
than 15 millions of people—that the main portion of the commerce ol the Archipelag
^ s beenforced to it as an emporium, and that it has existed for above two centuries
That suchTs really the case will appear sufficiently clear, if we compare Batavia with
othÎr EuropearTtowns in India similarly circumstanced. Thus, Calcutta, which w*>
a poor village 100 years after the foundation of Batavia, contains at present, pi obably,
twffie as many inhabitants, and wealth even in a larger proportion.
island of Bombay, which was not a British settlement at all for_near
after the founding of Batavia, and, when it became so, was but a poor sterile, and
scantily-inhabited spot, has, at present, als o at least double its popidation and t ,
too, of a much superior class. Even Manilla, the Spanish capital of the Phihppmes
has a population at least equal to Batavia, excluding suburbs in both cases. In ^ u b n ty
has probably contributed, in some measure, to this unfavourable result, but a com
mercial nolicy, unfavourable to the development of industry, infinite y ni i