C H A P . VIII.
BATAVIA.
Reception by the Dutch Governor— Van Weegerman's Villa and Dinner The
Governor's Ball and Supper— Dutch Mode of Living— Consequences o f it_
The Chinese— Their Industry and Prosperity— Jealousy o f the Dutch, and
horrid Consequences o f it— Javanese, their Habits of Life, and Condition—
Their spare Diet— Their apparent Origin from the Hindus— Their Religion—
Inconsistencies o f Transmigration— O f Animal Life being produced
by a fortuitous Concurrence of Circumstances— The Malays— Their Character
and vindictive Spirit— Attachment to Gaming— Instance o f the ferocious
Conduct o f the Malays— Slaves o f different Nations, their Disposition,
Condition, and Employment.
I f a stranger should happen to make his first entrance into
the city of Batavia about the middle of the day, he would be
apt to conclude it deserted by the inhabitants. At this time
the doors and windows are all shut, and not a creature, except
perhaps a few slaves, is stirring in the streets. But if
he should enter the city in the morning or the evening, his
eye will not be less attracted by the vast crowds of people
moving about in the principal streets, than by the very great
variety of dress and complexion which these crowds exhibit.
Here he will at once behold every tint of colour, except that
of rosy health, from the pallid hue of the sickly European,
through the endless shades of brown and yellow, to the jetty
black of the Malabar; and the dresses of the several nations,
both as to fashion and materials, are as various as their
colour and cast of countenance. That class of men which
bears a complete sway over the island is by much the least
numerous; it is even rare to see a single reel edele hoog ge-
booren Hollander, a right honourable high-born Dutchman,
condescending- to walk the •'streets. “ Nothing from
% Europe,” he observes, “ but Englishmen and dogs walk
“ in Batavia.” Whenever he has occasion to take this
kind of exercise, he puts on his full dress suit of velvet,
and is attended by a suitable retinue of slaves : sensible
how very necessary it is, where power is but ideal, to put
on an imposing appearance. But the Armenians, the
Persians, and the Arabs, always grave and intent on business;
the half-cast merchants from the different ports of
Hindostan ; and, above all, the Chinese, some in long sattin
gowns and plaited tails reaching almost to their heels, and
others crying their wares to sell, or seeking employment in
their several professions, dressed in large umbrella hats, short
jackets, and long wide trowsers ; the Javanese loitering carelessly
along, as if indifferent to every thing around them;
the free Malays, with half-averted eye, looking with suspicion
on all who come across them; and slaves, from every
nation and country of the East, condemned to trudge in the
same path with the carriages:—all these, in the early and
latter parts of the day, may be seen bustling in crowds in the
streets of Batavia.
It would far exceed the limits I have prescribed, were I to
enter at full length into the manners and ,p e cu liau sto 111 s of
d d 2