the troops laboured under many disadvantages and privations, in point of
accommodation, &cl.'to which they' would'not havé beqn subjected in a
more permanent settlement, and that they were’,otherwise exposed to diseases
unconnected with thosè of the the average casualties, were
not excessive. Eroin'the 1 st of November 1813 id the same* month in
1814, thé average nüfnliër' of troops is stated tp have been .the
deaths tiö4i‘ making a proportión of 1 to 14-8: the 'averagei number ( pf
sick in the same period was 862, making a proportion,1' of sick to. well as 1
to 8. - fkom the beginning of-November 1814 tójthe samé month in 18.15,
out of an average number of troops "stationed'. in different parts, of the
island,-in corps and detachments amounting to 7>487> , there Wgre. 252
deaths, 63 of which were caused by fever, 123 by'dysentery,, andpMa.bv
other diseases, making an average number óf'deatns..oï ,2 1 per month, or
in 'thé proportion of one death to thirty men in the year,: a proportion not
exceeding that of some of the healthiest possessions in temperate climates«'
To this general result. may be added the comparative casualties, in-his
Majesty’s 78th régiment, during the period of its being stationed-in In{dia
and Java. This Regiment has occasionally been cantoned at;-.each- of-the,
principal stations/and has remained on the is la n ^ r ^ ^ th e ^ s t’c^n^uest
of Java. By the table, will be séen the nümb.erfof rank and ^W^hf wh_ich
this regiment Consisted at‘ different periods, £ince 1815, and the
number o f casualties in the same-periods. It rnigKtjtot be. pr°per-t^elpct
;thió years in which it landed on the continent of India o r c a J a v a j. hut
those in which it was-stationed in either country may heynought togeAer,,
as fit subjects'for comparison. By calculation, upon'thé- data of th^ltable.
it'wiÜ appear, that from December 1®0 tö.'December 1801* the^deams,
were to the nuinber of'troops'aS 1 to about 20^ ; in fjjglr2, ;as 1 tp 12 ; t
in 1803^4, as 1 'to ^ 5 in' 1804-5, as 1 to 8£; in l805,J as 1 to about ,2(1;.
in 1806-7, as l to 28 nearly; -in 1807-^8,- as 1 to 24-J;. in 180p-10, as 1 to
about:23 ;4nT811-12, as 1 to '3 J ; id 1813-14, as 1 to 6 ; and in i 814^,1'?^
as 1 to aböüt'20 nearly. The places at which the rëgifriént was statio'ned at
thesedifferént periods will be“seen by the table-; and the c%use of the unysual
mortality that prevailed-in 181lil2, and which exceeds any offhe.yearson
the continent, will be found in an extract froqa thé letter pffDrf Cüfrie, the
surgeon, inclosing the return. The mortality in the last year was as 1 to 20
in the regiment, and among the whole troops, according to. the data above*
as
as 1 toV-ahouf 3 0 ; a lowestimate for climates, -whose characters stand
higherfor' salubrity than thatfëf Java.
■ '^ijM'^hej climate,'oft Java,' in general/iipficongenial 'to the human frame,
at Ma'sKfefthat of an" Asiatic,o‘is<cp'ïroboratedby the great extent of its native
population', Jcompared.1'with that of the suj^qunding- islands,' notwithstanding
the'checks^hiGhlifeexperieneedi both from": thdnativo'princes and the Euro-
peaTa,go^erntoent;* andyth^,cQCvineing prbof-which .the records of the British
army now afford, are perhaps sufficient^to!; remove the unfavourable impres-
-sion .wifcM- lis te d -against the climaterdfithe island as affecting Europeans.
At thé sanie; however, that Java has to boast jthisifgeneral character
of high salubrity, :compa'rati^elw-with1 other tropical climates;' it is.not to be
denied'thatdtliefefare some' spots'upon it,which.are ‘decidedly unhealthy.
Mï^ëuaréftóibe,found •aiöngdtfièföw swampy marshes.of 'the nothern coast,
-wMch are- ihqstiyrrecent encroachments upon the sea: the principal of these
^^■a^lA^Athe long established capital of the Dutch-pastérn empire..
elimate of this »city has ever been considered as one of the most baneful
in.,thc\worhk ; It has • even .been designated the-storehouse of disease;
withihow^üch^justiëëids too woefully demonstrated by-the.writings of those
visitors-who have:sui'Vivediits,'perils, and the records of the Dutch East-India
GoMpanysit-selfelJffwemay credit Baynal,* there perished'between, thé years
17-14 i and hospitals lof Batavia, above eighty-seven-thousand
sailors'and-soldiers. From thetiable, Nost-l-j: imperfect as it tis/on
losS-pf many of the! registers Wt the period of the British
conqugjstaf' it nwjll'-tbërSeen- what a large proportion!1 the deaths bore to the
whole population ;■ andfronr-the^ table,"'No. 2, of the same Appendix, dfis-
d§li^red: .‘among the-Dutch records, it appears further;-that the total amount
oillideAlhsiiinlthis 'city, from the year 1730 to the year -1752, was in twenty-
tjmayeaÈs more than a million-of souls.
To those who are acquainted 'with the manner; in' which the, affairs of the
■„©Itffch East-India Company were managed abroad, there will perhaps be.no
difficulty-in laying rather at the .door of the colonists, than of thé nation;
the .crime -of maintaining a- commercial • monopoly, at such a dreadful
expence of- lpës-as resulted from-’cohfinlijg'- the European population-within
the narrow walls of this unhealthy cityd- That the sacrifice was'made for
that obje'ct'/di' t© :speak mbre éörrectly, under that pretext, for the private
interests' of the eakyiists who wére entrusted with itsJ details, xan scarcely be
fpJlfv .'j ■.. • . doubted.
* Raynal, vol. i, page 293.