_Some Account of Batavia, and the adjacent Country; with their Fruits,
Flowers, and other Productions_.
Batavia, the capital of the Dutch dominions in India, and generally
supposed to have no equal among all the possessions of the Europeans in
Asia, is situated on the north side of the island of Java, in a low
fenny plain, where several small rivers, which take their rise in the
mountains called Blaeuwen Berg, about forty miles up the country, empty
themselves into the sea, and where the coast forms a large bay, called
the Bay of Batavia, at the distance of about eight leagues from the
streight of Sunda. It lies in latitude 6° 10' S., and longitude 106° 50'
E. from the meridian of Greenwich, as appears from astronomical
observations made upon the spot, by the Rev. Mr Mohr, who has built an
elegant observatory, which is as well furnished with instruments as most
in Europe.[129]
[Footnote 129: Batavia, called by some writers, the Queen of the East,
on account of its wealth and the beauty of its buildings, is situate
very near the sea, in a fertile plain, watered by the river Jaccatra,
which divides the town. The sea-shore is on the north of the city; and
on the south the land rises with a very gentle slope to the mountains,
which are about fifteen leagues inland. One of these is of great height,
and is called the Blue Mountain. The early history of this city is given
in the tenth volume of the Modern Universal History, to which the reader
is referred for information which it would perhaps be tedious to detail
in this place. Batavia, the reader will easily imagine, has been much
impaired by the calamities of her European parent; but, indeed, for some
considerable time before they commenced, she had very materially
declined in consequence and power.--E.]
The Dutch seem to have pitched upon this spot for the convenience of
water-carriage, and in that it is indeed a second Holland, and superior
to every other place in the world. There are very few streets that have
not a canal of considerable breadth running through them, or rather
stagnating in them, and continued for several miles in almost every
direction beyond the town, which is also intersected by five or six
rivers, some of which are navigable thirty or forty miles up the
country.[130] As the houses are large, and the streets wide, it takes up
a much greater extent, in proportion to the number of houses it
contains, than any city in Europe. Valentyn, who wrote an account of it
about the year 1726, says, that in his time there were, within the
walls, 1242 Dutch houses, and 1200 Chinese; and without the walls, 1066
Dutch, and 1240 Chinese, besides 12 arrack houses, making in all 4760:
But this account appeared to us to be greatly exaggerated, especially
with respect to the number of houses within the walls.
[Footnote 130: The river Jaccatra, as has been mentioned, runs through
the city, viz. from south to north, and having three bridges, one near
the castle, at the lower end, another at the upper end, and the third
about the centre of the town. It is from 160 to 180 feet broad, within
the city, and is fortified, though indifferently, at its mouth, which,
however, is of less importance, as a continually increasing bar renders
access to the city by it impracticable for large vessels.--E.]
The streets are spacious and handsome, and the banks of the canals are
planted with rows of trees, that make a very pleasing appearance; but
the trees concur with the canals to make the situation unwholesome.[131]
The stagnant canals in the dry season exhale an intolerable stench, and
the trees impede the course of the air, by which, in some degree, the
putrid effluvia would be dissipated. In the wet season the inconvenience
is equal, for then these reservoirs of corrupted water overflow their
banks in the lower part of the town, especially in the neighbourhood of
the hotel, and fill the lower stories of the houses, where they leave
behind them an inconceivable quantity of slime and filth: Yet these
canals are sometimes cleaned; but the cleaning them is so managed as to
become as great a nuisance as the foulness of the water; for the black
mud that is taken from the bottom is suffered to lie upon the banks,
that is, in the middle of the street, till it has acquired a sufficient
degree of hardness to be made the lading of a boat, and carried away. As
this mud consists chiefly of human ordure, which is regularly thrown
into the canals every morning, there not being a necessary-house in the
whole town, it poisons the air while it is drying, to a considerable
extent. Even the running streams become nuisances in their turn, by the
nastiness or negligence of the people; for every now and then a dead
hog, or a dead horse, is stranded upon the shallow parts, and it being
the business of no particular person to remove the nuisance, it is
negligently left to time and accident. While we were here, a dead
buffalo lay upon the shoal of a river that ran through one of the
principal streets, above a week, and at last was carried away by a
flood.[132]
[Footnote 131: Some of the streets are paved, but they consist of a hard
clay which allows of being made plain and smooth; and within the city
there are stone foot paths along their sides.--E.]
[Footnote 132: Five roads lead from the city into the country, all of
which are finely planted with trees, and have very agreeable gardens on
both sides. These roads run along the course of the rivulets or canals
which form so remarkable a feature in the history and appearance of this
city. The environs of Batavia have always been highly commended for
their beauty and the fertility of the soil; the consequence, no doubt,
of the extraordinary care taken to have them well watered--E.]
The houses are in general well adapted to the climate; they consist of
one very large room, or hall, on the ground floor, with a door at each
end, both which generally stand open: At one end a room is taken off by
a partition, where the master of the house transacts his business; and
in the middle, between each end, there is a court, which gives light to
the hall, and at the same time increases the draught of air. From one
corner of the hall the stairs go up to the floor above, where also the
rooms are spacious and airy. In the alcove, which is formed by the
court, the family dine; and at other times it is occupied by the female
slaves, who are not allowed to sit down any where else.[133]
[Footnote 133: The houses are mostly built of brick, stuccoed without,
and with sash-windows, so as to have a light agreeable appearance. The
plan of their internal construction is much the same in the whole. On
one side of a narrow passage into which you enter from the street, you
have a parlour, and a little farther on, a large long room, lighted from
an inner court, as is mentioned in the text. The rooms in general are
badly furnished, and are floored with dark-red stones. The upper rooms
are laid out like the under ones; Few of the private houses have
gardens.--E.]
The public buildings are most of them old, heavy, and ungraceful; but
the new church is not inelegant; it is built with a dome, that is seen
from a great distance at sea, and though the outside has rather a heavy
appearance, the inside forms a very fine room: It is furnished with an
organ of a proper size, being very large, and is most magnificently
illuminated by chandeliers.[134]
[Footnote 134: There are several churches for the reformed religion, and
service is performed in the Dutch, Portuguese, and Malay languages. The
description in the text is believed to apply to the Lutheran church,
erected during the government of Baron Van Imhof.--E.]
The town is enclosed by a stone wall of a moderate height; but the whole
of it is old, and many parts are much out of repair. This wall itself is
surrounded by a river, which in some places is fifty, and in some a
hundred yards wide: The stream is rapid, but the water is shallow. The
wall is also lined within by a canal, which in different parts is of
different breadths; so that, in passing either out or in through the
gates, it is necessary to cross two draw-bridges; and there is no
access for idle people or strangers to walk upon the ramparts, which
seem to be but ill provided with guns.[135]
[Footnote 135: The wall is built of coral rock, and part of it,
according to Sir Geo. Staunton's account, of lava of a dark-blue colour,
and firm hard texture. It has twenty two bastions mounted with
artillery, and is surrounded by a broad moat, generally well filled with
water. There are five gates to the city; two on the south, the New Gate,
and the Diast Gate; one on the north, the Square Gate; Rotterdam Gate on
the east; and the Utrecht Gate on the west--E.]
In the north-east corner of the town stands the castle or citadel, the
walls of which are both higher and thicker than those of the town,
especially near the landing-place, where there is depth of water only
for boats, which it completely commands, with several large guns, that
make a very good appearance.
Within this castle are apartments for the governor-general, and all the
council of India, to which they are enjoined to repair in case of a
siege. Here are also large storehouses where great quantities of the
Company's goods are kept, especially those that are brought from Europe,
and where almost all their writers transact their business. In this
place also are laid up a great number of cannon, whether to mount upon
the walls or furnish shipping, we could not learn; and the Company is
said to be well supplied with powder, which is dispersed in various
magazines, that if some should be destroyed by lightning, which in this
place is very frequent, the rest may escape.[136]
[Footnote 136: The castle is a square fortress, having four bastions
connected by curtains, surrounded by a ditch. The walls are about
twenty-four feet high, and built also of coral rock. Besides the houses,
&c. mentioned in the text and near to what is called the Iron Magazine,
is the grass plot where criminals are executed: It is a square space,
artificially elevated, and furnished with gallows, &c. Close adjoining,
and fronting it, is a small building where the magistrates, according to
the Dutch custom, attend during the execution.--E.]
Besides the fortifications of the town, numerous forts are dispersed
about the country to the distance of twenty or thirty miles; these seem
to have been intended merely to keep the natives in awe, and indeed
they are fit for nothing else. For the same purpose a kind of houses,
each of which mounts about eight guns, are placed in such situations as
command the navigation of three or four canals, and consequently the
roads upon their banks: Some of these are in the town itself, and it was
from one of these that all the best houses belonging to the Chinese were
levelled with the ground in the Chinese rebellion of 1740.[137] These
defences are scattered over all parts of Java, and the other islands of
which the Dutch have got possession in these seas. Of one of these
singular forts, or fortified houses, we should have procured a drawing,
if our gentlemen had not been confined by sickness almost all the time
they were upon the island.
[Footnote 137: One of the most shocking transactions ever recorded, is
here alluded to. It has been often described, for it horrified all
Europe, and excited most general disgust at the very name of Dutchmen.
They, however, endeavoured to make the affair look as decent as
possible, and when forced to abandon every other claim to favourable
interpretation, used at last the tyrant's plea, necessity. Rebellion
must be punished, it is admitted; a thousand reasons are in readiness to
justify the punishment of it. But, alas! in this case many hundreds were
punished who had never been in rebellion, never thought of it, never
knew it, were incapable of it. The vengeful spirit of their "High
Mightinesses" in Batavia, was glutted to the throat. Butchery could not
do her work more thoroughly. Not a drop of blood was left in Chinese
veins to circulate disaffection, or boil in the agony of despairing
hate. Extermination smiled in the gloom of Death,--merciful in this at
least, that she suffered not a heart to remain to curse her triumph. See
Modern Universal History, vol. xiv. ch. 7. Our limits will not permit
the dreadful recital.--E.]
If the Dutch fortifications here are not formidable in themselves, they
become so by their situation; for they are among morasses where the
roads, which are nothing more than a bank thrown up between a canal and
a ditch, may easily be destroyed, and consequently the approach of heavy
artillery either totally prevented or greatly retarded: For it would be
exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to transport them in boats, as
they all muster every night under the guns of the castle, a situation
from which it would be impossible for an enemy to take them. Besides, in
this country, delay is death; so that whatever retards an enemy, will
destroy him. In less than a week we were sensible of the unhealthiness
of the climate; and in less than a month half the ship's company were
unable to do their duty. We were told, that of a hundred soldiers who
arrive here from Europe, it was a rare thing for fifty to survive the
first year; that of those fifty, half would then be in the hospital, and
not ten of the rest in perfect health: Possibly this account may be
exaggerated; but the pale and feeble wretches whom we saw crawling about
with a musket, which they were scarcely able to carry, inclined us to
believe that it was true.[138] Every white inhabitant of the town indeed
is a soldier; the younger are constantly mustered, and those who have
served five years are liable to be called out when their assistance is
thought to be necessary; but as neither of them are ever exercised, or
do any kind of duty, much cannot be expected from them. The Portuguese,
indeed, are in general good marksmen, because they employ themselves
much in shooting wild-hogs and deer: Neither the Mardykers nor the
Chinese know the use of fire-arms; but as they are said to be brave,
they might do much execution with their own weapons, swords, lances, and
daggers. The Mardykers are Indians of all nations, who are descended
from free ancestors, or have themselves been made free.
[Footnote 138: Mr Barrow does not give a more favourable report.
According to him, no less than three out of five of the new settlers at
this place die in the first year of their residence; and he learned from
the registers of the military hospital, that though the establishment of
troops never exceeded 1500 men, and sometimes was not half this number,
yet during sixty-two years the annual deaths amounted to 1258! Of those
Europeans who have in some degree got accustomed to the place, he says
that rather more than ten in a hundred die yearly; and that scarcely any
live beyond the middle stage of life. The natives, as might be expected,
suffer less, but even they are exposed to frequent visits of the old
enemy. In Mr B.'s opinion, the climate is not so injurious as the
circumstances of the situation, and the pernicious, though convenient,
prevalency of canals, aided, he admits, by the bad habits of the
people.--E.]
But if it is difficult to attack Batavia by land, it is utterly
impossible to attack it by sea: For the water is so shallow, that it
will scarcely admit a long-boat to come within cannon-shot of the walls,
except in a narrow channel, called the river, that is walled on both
sides by strong piers, and runs about half a mile into the harbour. At
the other end, it terminates under the fire of the strongest part of the
castle; and here its communication with the canals that intersect the
town is cut off by a large wooden boom, which is shut every night at six
o'clock, and upon no pretence opened till the next morning.[139] The
harbour of Batavia is accounted the finest in India, and, to all
appearance, with good reason; it is large enough to contain any number
of ships, and the ground is so good that one anchor will hold till the
cable decays: It never admits any sea that is troublesome, and its only
inconvenience is the shoal water between the road and the river. When
the sea-breeze blows fresh, it makes a cockling sea that is dangerous to
boats: Our long-boat once struck two or three times as she was
attempting to come out, and regained the river's mouth with some
difficulty. A Dutch boat, laden with sails and rigging for one of the
Indiamen, was entirely lost.
[Footnote 139: The reader need not be reminded of the facility with
which Batavia was lately taken by our gallant countrymen. The accounts
of that successful expedition may be advantageously compared with what
is here given. This, however, they must do who are interested in the
subject. The introduction of it here would be very irrelevant--E.]
Round the harbour, on the outside, lie many islands, which the Dutch
have taken possession of, and apply to different uses.[140] To one of
them, called Edam, they transport all Europeans who have been guilty of
crimes that are not worthy of death: Some are sentenced to remain there
ninety-nine years, some forty, some twenty, some less, down to five, in
proportion to their offence; and during their banishment, they are
employed as slaves in making ropes, and other drudgery.[141] In another
island, called Purmerent, they have an hospital, where people are said
to recover much faster than at Batavia.[142] In a third, called Kuyper,
they have warehouses belonging to the Company, chiefly for rice, and
other merchandise of small value; and here the foreign ships, that are
to be laid down at Onrnst, another of these islands, which with Kuyper
has been mentioned before, discharge their cargoes at wharfs which are
very convenient for the purpose.[143] Here the guns, sails, and other
stores of the Falmouth, a man-of-war which was condemned at this place
when she was returning from Manilla, were deposited, and the ship
herself 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 sent, desiring
to be recalled. Happily for them, the Dutch thought fit, about six
months before our arrival, to sell the vessel and all her stores, by
public auction, and send the officers home in their own ships. At
Onrust, they repair all their own shipping, and keep a large quantity of
naval stores.
[Footnote 140: There are fifteen islands in all, but only four of them
are used by the Company; and of these, Onrust is the chief. This is
about three leagues north-west from the city, and is fortified, as
commanding the channel. It is very small, but there are several
warehouses and other buildings on it.--E.]
[Footnote 141: Edam is three leagues north-north-east from the city. It
abounds in wood, and is remarkable for a large tree of the fig kind,
which is an object of high veneration among the superstitious
Javanese.--E.]
[Footnote 142: Purmerent is to the eastward of Onrust, and is half as
large again as that island. It is planted with trees. The hospital on it
is maintained by the voluntary alms of both the natives and
Europeans.--E.]
[Footnote 143: Kuyper, or Cooper's Isle, is considerably less than
Onrust, and lies very near it. Several large tamarind trees yield it an
agreeable shade. It has two pier-heads at its south side, where ships
take in and discharge their freight.--E.]
The country round Batavia is for some miles a continued range of country
houses and gardens. Many of the gardens are very large, and by some
strange fatality, all are planted with trees almost as thick as they can
stand; so that the country derives no advantage from its being cleared
of the wood that originally covered it, except the fruit of that which
has been planted in its room. These impenetrable forests stand in a dead
flat, which extends some miles beyond them, and is intersected in many
directions by rivers, and more still by canals, which are navigable for
small vessels. Nor is this the worst, for the fence of every field and
garden is a ditch; and interspersed among the cultivated ground there
are many filthy fens, bogs, and morasses, as well fresh as salt.
It is not strange that the inhabitants of such a country should be
familiar with disease and death: Preventative medicines are taken almost
as regularly as food; and every body expects the returns of sickness, as
we do the seasons of the year. We did not see a single face in Batavia
that indicated perfect health, for there is not the least tint of colour
in the cheeks either of man or woman: The women indeed are toast
delicately fair; but with the appearance of disease there never can be
perfect beauty. People talk of death with as much indifference as they
do in a camp; and when an acquaintance is said to be dead, the common
reply is, "Well, he owed me nothing;" or, "I must get my money of his
executors."[144]
[Footnote 144: Those parts of the city are said to be most healthy which
are farthest off from the sea; and the reason given for the difference
is, that a great deal of mud, filth, blubber, &c. is thrown up by the
tide close to the other parts, and soon putrifying from the extreme
beat, adds materially to the influence of the generally operating
nuisances. But it seems pretty plain that the difference can be but
small, as the contaminated air must rapidly defuse itself throughout the
neighbourhood. Admitting it, however, to be appreciable, the inference
is very obvious as to what ought to be done for the bettering of
Batavia, considered as a receptacle of human beings, and not as a putrid
ditch from which gold is to be raked at the certain expense of
life.--E.]
To this description of the environs of Batavia there are but two
exceptions. The governor's country house is situated upon a rising
ground; but its ascent is so inconsiderable, 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 some trouble and expence, contrived to inclose
his own garden with a ditch; such is the influence of habit both upon
the taste and the understanding. A famous market also, called Passar
Tanabank, is held upon an eminency that rises perpendicularly about
thirty feet above the plain; and except these situations, the ground,
for an extent of between thirty and forty miles round Batavia, is
exactly parallel to the horizon. At the distance of about forty miles
inland, there are hills of a considerable height, where, as we were
informed, the air is healthy, and comparatively cool. Here the
vegetables of Europe flourish in great perfection, particularly
strawberries, which, can but ill bear heat, and the inhabitants are
vigorous and ruddy. Upon these hills some of the principal people have
country houses, which they visit once a-year; and one was begun for the
governor, upon the plan of Blenheim, the famous seat of the Duke of
Marlborough in Oxfordshire, but it has never been finished. To these
hills also people are sent by the physicians for the recovery of their
health, and the effects of the air are said to be almost miraculous: The
patient grows well in a short time, but constantly relapses soon after
his return to Batavia.[145]
[Footnote 145: On approaching the mountains towards the southern parts
of the island, the heat of the air gradually diminishes, till at last,
especially in the morning and evening, it is absolutely cold, and cannot
be endured without the aid of such clothing as is used in winter in
other countries. How materially the proper use of such a change of
climate may operate to the restoration of health, can be easily imagined
by any one who has felt the different effects of deleterious heat and
invigorating cold. The island of Jamaica presents something very similar
to what is now related of the different climates in the vicinity of
Batavia.--E.]
But the same situation and circumstances which render Batavia and the
country round it unwholesome, render it the best gardener's ground in
the world. The soil is fruitful beyond imagination, and the conveniences
and luxuries of life that it produces are almost without number.
Rice, which is well known to be the corn of these countries, and to
serve the inhabitants instead of bread, grows in great plenty; and I
must here observe, that in the hilly parts of Java, and in many of the
eastern islands, a species of this grain is planted, which in the
western parts of India is entirely unknown. It is called by the natives
_Paddy Gunung_, or Mountain Rice: This, contrary to the other sort,
which must be under water three parts in four of the time of its
growth, is planted upon the sides of hills where no water but rain can
come: It is however planted at the beginning of the rainy season, and
reaped in the beginning of the dry. How far this kind of rice might be
useful in our West-Indian islands, where no bread corn is grown, it may
perhaps be worth while to enquire.[146]
[Footnote 146: The island of Java produces rice, which is the principal
food of millions, in such quantities, as to have obtained the title of
the granary of the East. Nearly three thousand cwt., it is said, were
furnished by it in the year 1767, for the use of Batavia, Ceylon, and
Banda. It is sown in low ground generally, and after it has got a little
above the ground, is transplanted in small bundles, in rows, each bundle
having about six plants. The waters of the rivulets, &c. are then
allowed to flow on it till the stalk has attained due strength, when the
land is drained. When ripe, the fields of rice have an appearance like
wheat and barley. It is cut down by a small knife, about a foot under
the ear. In place of being threshed, the seed is separated from the husk
by stamping with wooden blocks.--E.]
Indian corn, or maize, is also produced here, which the inhabitants
gather when young, and toast in the ear. Here is also a great variety of
kidney-beans, and lentiles which they call _Cadjang_, and which make a
considerable part of the food of the common people; besides millet, yams
both wet and dry, sweet potatoes, and European potatoes, which are very
good, but not cultivated in great plenty. In the gardens, there are
cabbages, lettuces, cucumbers, radishes, the white radishes of China,
which boil almost as well as a turnip; carrots, parsley, celery, pigeon
peas, the egg plant, which, broiled and eaten with pepper and salt, is
very delicious; a kind of greens resembling spinnage; onions, very
small, but excellent; and asparagus: Besides some European plants of a
strong smell, particularly sage, hysop, and rue. Sugar is also produced
here in immense quantities; very great crops of the finest and largest
canes that can be imagined are produced with very little care, and yield
a much larger proportion of sugar than the canes in the West Indies.
White sugar is sold here at two-pence half-penny a pound; and the
molasses makes the arrack, of which, as of rum, it is the chief
ingredient; a small quantity of rice, and some cocoa-nut wine, being
added, chiefly, I suppose, to give it flavour. A small quantity of
indigo is also produced here, not as an article of trade, but merely for
home consumption.[147]
[Footnote 147: Pepper, sugar, and coffee, are produced in very
considerable quantities, especially the first, which has been reckoned
one of the chief commodities of the place. As to sugar, one may have
some notion of the quantity yielded, by a circumstance noticed by
Stavorinus in his account. He says that thirteen millions of pounds were
manufactured, in 1765, in the province of Jaccatra alone. Much of it
used to be sent to the west of India, and a considerable part found its
way to Europe before the derangement, or rather annihilation of the
Dutch trade, by the effects of the revolutionary wars.--E.]
But the most abundant article of vegetable luxury here, is the fruit; of
which there is no less than six-and-thirty different kinds, and I shall
give a very brief account of each.
1. The pine-apple; _Bromelia Ananas_. This fruit, which is here called
_Nanas_, grows very large, and in such plenty that they may sometimes be
bought at the first hand for a farthing a-piece; and at the common
fruit-shops we got three of them for two-pence half-penny. They are very
juicy and well flavoured; but we all agreed that we had eaten as good
from a hot-house in England: They are however so luxuriant in their
growth that most of them have two or three crowns, and a great number of
suckers from the bottom of the fruit; of these Mr Banks once counted
nine, and they are so forward that very often while they still adhered
to the parent plant they shot out their fruit, which, by the time the
large one became ripe, were of no inconsiderable size. We several times
saw three upon one apple, and were told that a plant once produced a
cluster of nine, besides the principal: This indeed was considered as so
great a curiosity, that it was preserved in sugar, and sent to the
Prince of Orange.
2. Sweet oranges. These are very good, but while we were here, sold for
six-pence a piece.
3. Pumplemoeses, which in the West Indies are called Shaddocks. These
were well flavoured, but not juicy; their want of juice, however, was an
accidental effect of the season.
4. Lemons. These were very scarce; but the want of them was amply
compensated by the plenty of limes.
5. Limes. These were excellent, and to be bought at about twelve-pence a
hundred. We saw only two or three Seville oranges, which were almost all
rind; and there are many sorts, both of oranges and lemons, which I
shall not particularly mention, because they are neither esteemed by
Europeans nor the natives themselves.
6. Mangos. This fruit during our stay was so infested with maggots,
which bred in the inside of them, that scarcely one in three was
eatable; and the best of them were much inferior to those of Brazil:
They are generally compared by Europeans to a melting peach, which
indeed they resemble in softness and sweetness, but certainly fall much
short in flavour. The climate here, we were told, is too hot and damp
for them; but there are as many sorts of them as there are of apples in
England, and some are much superior to others. One sort, which is called
_Mangha Cowani_, has so strong a smell that a European can scarcely bear
one in the room. These, however, the natives are fond of. The three
sorts which are generally preferred, are the _Mangha Doodool_, the
_Mangha Santock_, and the _Mangha Gure_.
7. Bananas. Of these also there are innumerable sorts, but three only
are good; the _Pissang Mas_, the _Pissang Radja_, and the _Pissang
Ambou_: All these have a pleasant vinous taste, and the rest are useful
in different ways; some are fried in batter, and others are boiled and
eaten as bread. There is one which deserves the particular notice of the
botanist, because, contrary to the nature of its tribe, it is full of
seeds, and is therefore called _Pissang Batu_, or _Pissang Bidjie_; it
his however no excellence to recommend it to the taste, but the Malays
use it as a remedy for the flux.
8. Grapes. These are not in great perfection, but they are very dear;
for we could not buy a moderate bunch for less than a shilling or
eighteen-pence.
9. Tamarinds. These are in great plenty, and very cheap: The people,
however, do not put them up in the manner practised by the West Indians,
but cure them with salt, by which means they become a black mass, so
disagreeable to the sight and taste, that few Europeans chuse to meddle
with them.
10. Water melons. These are in great plenty, and very good.
11. Pumpkins. These are beyond comparison the most useful fruit that can
be carried to sea; for they will keep without any care several months,
and with sugar and lemon-juice, make a pye that can scarcely be
distinguished from one made of the best of apples; and with pepper and
salt, they are a substitute for turnips, not to be despised.
12 Papaws. This fruit when it is ripe is full of seeds, and almost
without flavour; but if when it is green it is pared, and the core taken
out, it is better than the best turnip.
13. Guava. This fruit is much commended by the inhabitants of our
islands in the West Indies, who probably have a better sort than we met
with here, where the smell of them was so disagreeably strong that it
made some of us sick; those who tasted them said, that the flavour was
equally rank.
14. Sweet sop. The _Annona Squammosa_ of Linnæus. This is also a
West-Indian fruit: It consists only of a mass of large kernels, from
which a small proportion of pulp may be sucked, which is very sweet, but
has little flavour.
15. Custard apple. The _Annona Reticulata_ of Linnæus. The quality of
this fruit is well expressed by its English name, which it acquired in
the West Indies; for it is as like a custard, and a good one too, as can
be imagined.
16. The cashew apple. This is seldom eaten on account of its
astringency. The nut that grows upon the top of it is well known in
Europe.
17. The cocoa-nut. This is also well known in Europe: There are several
sorts, but the best of those we found here is called _Calappi Edjou_,
and is easily known by the redness of the flesh between the skin and the
shell.
18. Mangostan. The _Garcinia Mangostana_ of Linnæus. This fruit, which
is peculiar to the East Indies, is about the size of the crab apple, and
of a deep red-wine colour: On the top of it is the figure of five or six
small triangles joined in a circle, and at the bottom several hollow
green leaves, which are remains of the blossom. When they are to be
eaten, the skin, or rather flesh, must be taken off, under which are
found six or seven white kernels, placed in a circular order, and the
pulp with which these are enveloped, is the fruit, than which nothing
can be more delicious: It is a happy mixture of the tart and the sweet,
which is no less wholesome than pleasant; and with the sweet orange,
this fruit is allowed in any quantity to those who are afflicted with
fevers, either of the putrid or inflammatory kind.
19. The jamboo. The _Eugenia Mallaccensis_ of Linnæus. This fruit is of
a deep red colour, and an oval shape; the largest, which are always the
best, are not bigger than a small apple; they are pleasant and cooling,
though they have not much flavour.
20. The jambu-eyer. A species of the _Eugenia_ of Linnæus. Of this fruit
there are two sorts of a similar shape, resembling a bell, but differing
in colour; one being red, the other white. They somewhat exceed a large
cherry in size, and in taste have neither flavour nor even sweetness,
containing nothing but a watery juice, slightly acidulated; yet their
coolness recommends them in this hot country.
21. Jambu-eyer mauwar. The _Eugenia Jambos_ of Linnæus. This is more
grateful to the smell than the taste: In taste it resembles the conserve
of roses, and in smell the fresh scent of those flowers.
22. The pomegranate. This is the same fruit that is known by the same
name all over Europe.
23. Durion. A fruit that in shape resembles a small melon, but the skin
is covered with sharp conical spines, whence its name; for _dure_, in
the Malay language, signifies prickle. When it is ripe, it divides
longitudinally into seven or eight compartments, each of which contains
six or seven nuts, not quite so large as chesnuts, which are covered
with a substance that in colour and consistence very much resembles
thick cream: This is the part that is eaten, and the natives are fond of
it to excess. To Europeans it is generally disagreeable at first; for in
taste it somewhat resembles a mixture of cream, sugar, and onions; and
in the smell, the onions predominate.
24. Nanca. This fruit, which in some parts of India is called Jakes,
has, like the Durion, a smell very disagreeable to strangers, and
somewhat resembling that of mellow apples mixed with garlic: The flavour
is not more adapted to the general taste. In some countries that are
favourable to it, it is said to grow to an immense size. Rumphius
relates, that it is sometimes so large that a man cannot easily lift it;
and we were told by a Malay, that at Madura it is sometimes so large as
not to be carried but by the united efforts of two men. At Batavia,
however, they never exceed the size of a large melon, which in shape
they very much resemble: They are covered with angular prickles, like
the shootings of some crystals, which however are not hard enough to
wound those who handle them.
25. Champada. This differs from the Nanca in little except size, it not
being so big. .
26. Rambutan. This is a fruit little known to Europeans. In appearance
it very much resembles a chesnut with the husk on, and like that, is
covered with small points, which are soft, and of a deep red colour:
Under this skin is the fruit, and within the fruit a stone; the eatable
part thereof is small in quantity, but its acid is perhaps more
agreeable than any other in the whole vegetable kingdom.
27. Jambolan. This, in size and appearance, is not unlike a damascene;
but in taste is still more astringent, and therefore less agreeable.
28. The Boa Bidarra, or _Rhamnus Jujuba_ of Linnæus. This is a round
yellow fruit, about the size of a gooseberry; its flavour is like that
of an apple, but it has the astringency of a crab.
29. Nam nam. The _Cynometra Cauliflora_ of Linnæus. This fruit in shape
somewhat resembles a kidney; it is about three inches long, and the
outside is very rough: It is seldom eaten raw, but fried with batter it
makes a good fritter.
30, 31. The Catappa, or _Terminalia Catappa_; and the Canare, the
_Canarium Commune_ of Linnæus, are both nuts, with kernels somewhat
resembling an almond; but the difficulty of breaking the shell is so
great, that they are no where publicly sold. Those which we tasted were
gathered for curiosity by Mr Banks from the tree upon which they grew.
32. The Madja, or _Limoni_ of Linnæus, contains, under a hard brittle
shell, a lightly acid pulp, which cannot be eaten without sugar; and
with it, is not generally thought pleasant.
33. Suntul. The _Trichilia_ of Linnæus. This is the worst of all the
fruits that I shall particularly mention: In size and shape it resembles
the Madja, and within a thick skin contains kernels like those of the
Mangostan, the taste of which is both acid and astringent, and so
disagreeable, that we were surprised to see it exposed upon the
fruit-stalls.
34, 35, 36. The Blimbing, or _Averrhoa Belimbi_; the Blimbing Besse, or
_Averrhoa Carambola_; and the Cherrema, or _Averrhoa Acida_ of Linnæus,
are three species of one genus; and though they differ in shape, are
nearly of the same taste. The Blimbing Besse is the sweetest: the other
two are so austerely acid, that they cannot be used without dressing;
they make, however, excellent pickles and sour sauce.
37. The Salack, or _Calamus Rotang Zalacca_ of Linnæus. This is the
fruit of a prickly bush; it is about as big as a walnut, and covered
with scales, like those of a lizard: Below the scales are two or three
yellow kernels, in flavour somewhat resembling a strawberry.
Besides these, the island of Java, and particularly the country round
Batavia, produces many kinds of fruit which were not in season during
our stay: We were also told that apples, strawberries, and many other
fruits from Europe, had been planted up in the mountains, and flourished
there in great luxuriance. We saw several fruits preserved in sugar,
that we did not see recent from the tree, one of which is called
_Kimkit_, and another _Boa Atap_: And here are several others which are
eaten only by the natives, particularly the _Kellor_, the _Guilindina_,
the _Moringa_, and the _Soccum_. The Soccum is of the same kind with the
breadfruit in the South-Sea islands, but so much inferior, that if it
had not been for the similitude in the outward appearance both of the
fruit and the tree, we should not have referred it to that class. These
and some others do not merit to be particularly mentioned.
The quantity of fruit that is consumed at Batavia is incredible; but
that which is publicly exposed to sale is generally over-ripe. A
stranger, however, may get good fruit in a street called Passar Pissang,
which lies north from the great church, and very near it. This street is
inhabited by none but Chinese fruit-sellers, who are supplied from the
gardens of gentlemen in the neighbourhood of the town with such as is
fresh, and excellent in its kind, for which, however, they must be paid
more than four times the market price.
The town in general is supplied from a considerable distance, where
great quantities of land are cultivated merely for the production of
fruit. The country people, to whom these lands belong, meet the people
of the town at two great markets; one on Monday, called Passar Sineeu,
and the other on Saturday, called Passar Tanabank. These fairs are held
at places considerably distant from each other, for the convenience of
different districts; neither of them, however, are more than five miles
distant from Batavia. At these fairs, the best fruit may be bought at
the cheapest rate, and the sight of them to a European is very
entertaining. The quantity of fruit is astonishing; forty or fifty
cart-loads of the finest pine-apples, packed as carelessly as turnips in
England, are common, and other fruit in the same profusion. The days,
however, on which these markets are held are ill contrived; the time
between Saturday and Monday is too short, and that between Monday and
Saturday too long: Great part of what is bought on Monday is always much
the worse for keeping before a new stock can be bought, either by the
retailer or consumer; so that for several days in every week there is no
good fruit in the hands of any people but the Chinese in Passar Pissang.
The inhabitants of this part of India practise a luxury which seems to
be but little attended to in other countries; they are continually
burning aromatic woods and resins, and scatter odours round them in a
profusion of flowers, possibly as an antidote to the noisome effluvia of
their ditches and canals. Of sweet-smelling flowers they have a great
variety, altogether unknown in Europe, the chief of which I shall
briefly describe.
1. The _Champacka_, or _Michelia Champacca_. This grows upon a tree as
large as an apple-tree, and consists of fifteen long narrow petala,
which give it the appearance of being double, though in reality it is
not so: Its colour is yellow, and much deeper than that of a jonquil, to
which it has some resemblance in smell.
2. The _Cananga_, or _Uvaria Cananga_, is a green flower, not at all
resembling the blossom of any tree or plant in Europe: It has indeed
more the appearance of a bunch of leaves than a flower; its scent is
agreeable, but altogether peculiar to itself.
3. The _Mulatti_, or _Nyctanthes Sambac_. This is well known in English
hot-houses by the name of Arabian jessamine: It grows here in the
greatest profusion, and its fragrance, like that of all other Indian
flowers, though exquisitely pleasing, has not that overpowering strength
which distinguishes some of the same sorts in Europe.
4, 5. The _Combang Caracnassi_, and _Combang Tonquin, Percularia
Glabro_. These are small flowers, of the dog's-bane kind, very much
resembling each other in shape and smell, highly fragrant, but very
different from every product of an English garden.
6. The _Bonga Tanjong_, or _Mimusops Elengi_ of Linnaeus. This flower is
shaped like a star of seven or eight rays, and is about half an inch in
diameter: It is of a yellowish colour, and has an agreeable smell.
Besides these, there is the _Sundal Malam_, or _Polianthes Tuberosa_.
This flower, being the same with our own tuberose, can have no place
among those that are unknown in Europe; but I mention it for its Malay
name, which signifies "Intriguer of the night," and is not inelegantly
conceived. The heat of this climate is so great, that few flowers exhale
their sweets in the day; and this in particular, from its total want of
scent at that time, and the modesty of its colour, which is white,
seems negligent of attracting admirers, but as soon as night comes on,
it diffuses its fragrance, and at once compels the attention, and
excites the complacency, of all who approach it.
These are all sold about the streets every evening at sunset, either
strung upon a thread, in wreaths of about two feet long, or made up into
nosegays of different forms, either of which may be purchased for about
a half-penny. Besides these, there are, in private gardens, many other
sweet flowers, which are not produced in a sufficient quantity to be
brought to market. With a mixture of these flowers, and the leaves of a
plant called _Pandang_, cut into small pieces, persons of both sexes
fill their hair and their clothes, and with the same mixture indulge a
much higher luxury by strewing it on their beds; so that the chamber in
which they sleep breathes the richest and purest of all odours,
unallayed by the fumes which cannot but arise where the sleeper lies
under two or three blankets and a quilt, for the bed covering here is
nothing more than a single piece of fine chintz.
Before I close my account of the vegetable productions of this part of
India, I must take some notice of the spices. Java originally produced
none but pepper. This is now sent from hence into Europe to a great
value, but the quantity consumed here is very small: The inhabitants use
_Capsicum_, or, as it is called in Europe, Cayan pepper, almost
universally in its stead. Cloves and nutmegs, having been monopolized by
the Dutch, are become too dear to be plentifully used by the other
inhabitants of this country, who are very fond of them. Cloves, although
they are said originally to have been the produce of Machian, or
Bachian, a small island far to the eastward, and only fifteen miles to
the northward of the line, and to have been from thence disseminated by
the Dutch, at their first coming into these parts, over all the eastern
islands, are now confined to Amboina, and the small isles that lie in
its neighbourhood; the Dutch having, by different treaties of peace
between them and the conquered kings of all the other islands,
stipulated, that they should have only a certain number of trees in
their dominions; and in future quarrels, as a punishment for
disobedience and rebellion, lessened the quantity, till at last they
left them no claim to any. Nutmegs have in a manner been extirpated in
all the islands except their first native soil, Banda, which easily
supplies every nation upon earth, and would as easily supply every
nation in another globe of the same dimensions, if there was any such
to which the industrious Hollander could transport the commodity: It is,
however, certain, that there are a few trees of this spice upon the
coast of New Guinea. There may perhaps be both cloves and nutmegs upon
other islands to the eastward; for those, neither the Dutch, nor any
other European, seem to think it worth while to examine.
The principal tame quadrupeds of this country, are horses, cattle,
buffaloes, sheep, goats, and hogs The horses are small, never exceeding
in size what we call a stout galloway, but they are nimble and spirited,
and are reported to have been found here when the Europeans first came
round the Cape of Good Hope. The horned cattle are said to be the same
species as those in Europe, but they differ so much in appearance, that
we were inclined to doubt it: They have indeed the _palearia_ or
_dewlap_, which naturalists make the distinguishing characteristic of
the European species, but they certainly are found wild, not only in
Java, but several of the eastern islands. The flesh of those that we eat
at Batavia, had a finer grain than European beef, but it was less juicy,
and miserably lean. Buffaloes are plenty, but the Dutch never eat them,
nor will they drink their milk, being prepossessed with a notion that
both are unwholesome, and tend to produce fevers; though the natives and
Chinese eat both, without any injury to their health. The sheep are of
the kind which have long ears that hang down, and hair instead of wool:
The flesh of these is hard and tough, and in every respect the worst
mutton we ever saw. We found here, however, a few Cape sheep, which are
excellent, but so dear that we gave five-and-forty shillings a-piece for
four of them, the heaviest of which weighed only five-and-forty pounds.
The goats are not better than the sheep; but the hogs, especially the
Chinese breed, are incomparable, and so fat, that the purchaser agrees
for the lean separately. The butcher, who is always a Chinese, without
the least scruple cuts off as much of the fat as he is desired, and
afterwards sells it to his countrymen, who melt it down, and eat it
instead of butter with their rice: But notwithstanding the excellence of
this pork, the Dutch are so strongly prejudiced in favour of every thing
that comes from their native country, that they eat only of the Dutch
breed, which are here sold as much dearer than the Chinese, as the
Chinese are sold dearer than the Dutch in Europe.
Besides these animals, which are tame, they have dogs and cats, and
there are among the distant mountains some wild horses and cattle:
Buffaloes are not found wild in any part of Java, though they abound in
Macassar, and several other eastern islands. The neighbourhood of
Batavia, however, is plentifully supplied with two kinds of deer, and
wild hogs, which are sold at a reasonable price by the Portuguese, who
shoot them, and are very good food.
Among the mountains, and in the desert parts of the island, there are
tigers, it is said, in great abundance, and some rhinoceroses: In these
parts also there are monkies, and there are a few of them even in the
neighbourhood of Batavia.
Of fish, here is an amazing plenty; many sorts are excellent, and all
are very cheap, except the few that are scarce. It happens here, as in
other places, that vanity gets the better even of appetite: The cheap
fish, most of which is of the best kind, is the food only of slaves, and
that which is dear, only because it is scarce, and very much inferior in
every respect, is placed upon the tables of the rich. A. sensible
house-keeper once spoke to us freely upon the subject. "I know," said
he, "as well as you, that I could purchase a better dish of fish for a
shilling, than what now costs me ten; but if I should make so good a use
of my money, I should here be as much despised, as you would be in
Europe, if you were to cover your table with offals, fit only for
beggars, or dogs."
Turtle is also found here, but it is neither so sweet nor so fat as the
West-Indian turtle, even in London; such as it is, however, we should
consider it as a dainty; but the Dutch, among other singularities, do
not eat it. We saw some lizards, or Iguanas, here of a very large size;
we were told that some were as thick as a man's thigh, and Mr Banks shot
one that was five feet long: The flesh of this animal proved to be very
good food.
Poultry is very good here, and in great plenty: Fowls of a very large
size, ducks, and geese, are very cheap; pigeons are dear, and the price
of turkies extravagant. We sometimes found the flesh of these animals
lean and dry, but this was merely the effect of their being ill fed, for
those that we fed ourselves were as good as any of the same kind that we
had tasted in Europe, and we sometimes thought them even better.
Wild fowl in general is scarce. We once saw a wild duck in the fields,
but never any that were to be sold. We frequently saw snipes of two
kinds, one of them exactly the same as that in Europe; and a kind of
thrush was always to be had in great plenty of the Portuguese, who, for
I know not what reason, seem to have monopolized the wild fowl and game.
Of snipes, it is remarkable, that they are found in more parts of the
world than any other bird, being common almost all over Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America.
With respect to drink, Nature has not been quite so liberal to the
inhabitants of Java as to some whom she has placed in the less fruitful
regions of the north. The native Javanese, and most of the other Indians
who inhabit this island, are indeed Mahometans, and therefore have no
reason to regret the want of wine; but, as if the prohibition of their
law respected only the manner of becoming drunk, and not drunkenness
itself, they chew opium, to the total subversion not only of their
understanding, but their health.[148]
[Footnote 148: Besides opium, both betel and a sort of tobacco is much
used by most people at Batavia. A lady scarcely ever goes out unattended
by a slave, who carries her betel box, to which she very frequently has
recourse. The constant use of this substance has a very unpleasant (i.
e. according to European opinion) effect on the teeth, rendering them
quite black! This, however, is not thought any disparagement of their
beauty, and it is believed that the toothache is prevented by the
practice of chewing. A few additional remarks on this subject are given
in the following section.--E.]
The arrack that is made here, is too well known to need a description:
Besides which, the palm yields a wine of the same kind with that which
has already been described in the account of the island of Savu: It is
procured from the same tree, in the same manner, and is sold in three
states. The first, in which it is called _Tuac manise_, differs little
from that in which it comes from the tree; yet even this has received
some preparation altogether unknown to us, in consequence of which it
will keep eight-and-forty hours, though otherwise it would spoil in
twelve: In this state it has an agreeable sweetness, and will not
intoxicate. In the other two states it has undergone a fermentation, and
received an infusion of certain herbs and roots, by which it loses its
sweetness, and acquires a taste very austere and disagreeable. In one of
these states it's called _Tuac cras_, and in the other _Tuac cuning_,
but the specific difference I do not know; in both, however, it
intoxicates very powerfully. A liquor called Tuac is also made from the
cocoa-nut tree, but this is used chiefly to put into the arrack, for in
that which is good it is an essential ingredient.