There is another fet of people called Portuguefe; whom the Malays call
Orrang Cerami, or people of Ceram ; but for what reafon I could not learn:
They are very dark-coloured, but you may diftinguiih European features amongft
them.
Other people, of which there are many to be feen at Batavia, are Banjans,
or Gentoos; the Malays call them Orrang Codjo: Their heads are ihaven, and
covered with a conical cap ; the other parts of their drefs are a ihort petticoat, or
wrapper, about their loins j and, over that, a banjan. The Javanefe, who refide
here, are drelfed much in the fame manner, except the cap: they are all free, as
the taking them for Haves is prohibited under a very fevere penalty. Here are alfo
Armenians, Periians, Moguls, people from many parts of India, as well as
negroes from Madagafcar, Mofambique, and all the eaftern parts of Africa.
Batavia is plentifully furniihed with all forts of provifionsj but, in this city, as
well as in others that are very populous, moft articles bear a high price. Here are
lome bullocks, but many more buffaloes, whxh are'fold on reasonable terms, and
their fleih eats pretty well j alfo Cambeong, or goat-iheep j but they are lean, dry,
and indifferent food : Hogs of the Chinefe and European breed j the former are
very fat, eat very well, and are cheap; but the Europeans defpife them, and prefer
the latter, which are very dear. They have alfo tame fowls in abundance, 'which
are cheap. I have likewife feen wild-fowls. Their ducks .are not fo good as ours,
and are of another kind. Mufcovy ducks and geefe are bought reafonable j but
turkeys and pigeons are dear. They have a plentiful market of Mb, which is the
favourite food of the Malays, but no great variety: Claw-fiih, ihell-fiih, and particularly
oyfters, though fmall, are pretty good food; but their turtle, of which
they have a plenty, is remarkably bad, and is only eaten by the common people. I
believe there is not any place can equal Batavia for the variety of provifidns, which
may be bought at Stalls, and are hawked about the Streets, ready cooked, -or cooking.
They are furniihed with flour from the Cape, and their bread is very good
and cheap; but rice is more generally ufed, which grows in Java, and is very plentiful.
Their common drink is arrack punch. The belt arrack is fold for fifteen-pence
the gallon. By what I could learn, the principal ingredient in it is fugar; with
the heit fort they mix Dooae, or palm-fyrup; but whether they ufe rice I cannot tell.
Claret
Claret and Rheniih are the moft common wines drank at Batavia : Claret you may
buy at eighteen-pence the bottle; but beer fells at twenty-pence. Sugar is another
article which they have in great plenty j the belt fells for about twopence-farthing
the pound ; and fugar-candy at threepence-halfpenny. They have a great quantity
of coffee, which grows at Java: It is a company's trade, but may be bought,
fmuggled, for twopence-halfpenny the pound. They make as good butter as need be
eaten; and have a fufficient quantity of it to ferve moft of the inhabitants with their
coffee and tea: they have alfo fome good butter from the Cape. O f garden-ftuff,
they have peafe, French-beans, afparagus, cos-lettuce, parfley, purllain, onions,
white radithes, potatoes, cabbages, fpinage, cucumbers, celery, endive, and thefe
all the year long : befides thefe, which are exoties, they have feveral forts of
C a ja n g , o r beans, Oobe, or yams, fweet potatoes, pumpkins, muthrooms, Vuevues,
which tafte like muthrooms when roafted, garlick, and a fort of fmall onions that
tafte like ihallots, Chabe, or red-bird pepper ; with a variety of other pot-herbs,
too tedious to enumerate.
The beft fruits they have at Batavia are . the Mangafteen, which is fo whole-
fome, that it may be eaten in a fever: the Ramboutan, about the ftze of a large
plumb, growing in bunches, and covered with a thick hullc, of a bright red colour,
full of foft prick|es, which gives it a furzy appearance; the infide, which is about
the tize. of a pigeon’s egg, is tranfparenr, and yields a very rich juice, which has an
agreeable poignancy. Pine-apples, which are alfo very good and plentiful, may
be bought for an halfpenny or a farthing each. The Nanca and Durian are much,
admired by the natives; but they are very difagreeable to foreigners, as they fmell
like onions and garlick, mixed with fugar : the Nanca is rather long, divided into
four equal parts within, has a ftone in each, and. is as large as a half-peck loaf:
they grow on the trunk of a tree; the outfide of the fruit is of a greehchlour, and
the infide of a yellow: they are.covered with a bag, before they are ripe, which pre-
fervcs them from the vermin. TheDurianisconfiderably lefs,-quite round, and covered,
with fpiny tubercles. They have bread-fruit, too ¡ bur, being full of feed, it is never
eaten. Alfo a plenty of mangoes, of feveral fortS, which, in my opinion, eat beft
when they are green, with pepper and fait. Oranges are very fcarce and' very indifferent
; but they have plenty of limes, and fome Namnamsjqp, which eat very
well fried. They alfo have a fruit, produced by a fort of rattan, called Salae, which is
covered