CHA P. XII. Some Account of the Inhabitants of Batavia, and the adjacent Country, their Manners, Cuftoms, and Manner of Life. TH HE town of Batavia, although, as I have already observed, it is the capital of the Dutch dominions in India, is so far from being peopled with Dutchmen, that not one fifth part, even of the European inhabitants of the town, and its environs, are natives of Holland, or of Dutch extraction: the greater part are Portuguese, and befides Europeans, there are Indians of various nations, and Chinese, befides a great number of negro flaves. In the troops, there are natives of almost every country in Europe, but the Germans are more than all the reft put together; there are fome English and French, but the Dutch, though other Europeans are permitted to get money here, keep all the power in their own hands, and confequently poffefs all public employments. No man, of whatever nation, can come hither to settle, in any other character than that of a foldier in the Company's fervice, in which, before they are accepted, they must covenant to remain five years. years. As foon however as this form has been complied with, they are allowed, upon application to the council, to abfent themselves from their corps, and enter immediately into any branch of trade, which their money or credit will enable them to carry on; and by this means it is that all the white inhabitants of the place are foldiers. Women, however, of all nations, are permitted to fettle here, without coming under any reftrictions; yet we were told that there were not, when we were at Batavia, twenty women in the place that were born in Europe, but that the white women, who were by no means fcarce, were defcendants from European parents of the third or fourth generation, the gleanings of many families who had fucceffively come hither, and in the male line become extinct; for it is certain that, whatever be the cause, this climate is not fo fatal to the ladies as to the other fex. These women imitate the Indians in every particular; their drefs is made of the fame materials, their hair is worn in the fame manner, and they are equally enslaved by the habit of chewing betel. The merchants carry on their business here with lefs trouble perhaps than in any other part of the world: every manufacture is managed by the Chinese, who fell the produce of their labour 1770. December. 1770. December, labour to the merchant refident here, for they are permitted to fell it to no one elfe; fo that when a fhip comes in, and bespeaks perhaps a hundred leagers of arrack, or any quantity of other commodities, the merchant has nothing to do but to fend orders to his Chinese to fee them delivered on board: he obeys the command, brings a receipt figned by the master of the fhip for the goods to his employer, who receives the money, and having deducted his profit, pays the Chinese his demand. With goods that are imported, however, the merchant has a little more trouble, for these he must examine, receive, and lay up in his warehouse, according to the practice of other countries. The Portuguese are called by the natives Oranferane, or Nazareen men (Oran, being Man in the language of the country), to distinguish them from other Europeans; yet they are included in the general appellation of Caper, or Cafir, an opprobrious term, applied by Mahametans to all who do not profess their faith. These people, however, are Portuguese only in name; they have renounced the religion of Rome, and become Lutherans: neither have they the leaft communication with the country of their forefathers, or even knowledge of it: they speak indeed a corrupt dialect of the Portuguese language, but much more frequently ufe the Malay: they are never fuffered to em I ploy ploy themselves in any but mean occupations: many of them live by hunting, many by washing linen, and fome are handicraftfmen and artificers. They have adopted all the customs of the Indians, from whom they are diftinguished chiefly by their features and complexion, their skin being confiderably darker, and their noses more sharp; their dress is exactly the fame, except in the manner of wearing their hair. The Indians, who are mixed with the Dutch and Portuguese in the town of Batavia, and the country adjacent, are not, as might be fuppofed, Javanese, the original natives of the island, but natives of the various iflands from which the Dutch import flaves, and are either fuch as have themselves been manumized, or the descendants of those who formerly received manumiffion; and they are all comprehended under the general name of Oranslam, or Isalam, fignifying Believers of the true Faith. The natives of every country, however, in other refpects, keep themfelves diftinct from the reft, and are not lefs ftrongly marked than the flaves by the vices or virtues of their respective nations. Many of these employ themselves in the cultivation of gardens, and in felling fruit and flowers. The betel and areca, which are here called Siri and Pinang, and chewed by both fexes and every rank in amazing quantities, are all grown by thefe Indians: lime is also mixed with these roots 1770. December. December, 1770. roots here as it is in Savu, but it is lefs pernicious to the teeth, because it is first flaked, and, befides the lime, a fubftance called gambir, which is brought from the continent of India; the better fort of women alfo add cardamum, and many other aromatics, to give the breath an agreeable fmell. Some of the Indians, however, are employed in fishing, and as lightermen, to carry goods from place to place by water; and fome are rich, and live with much of the fplendour of their country, which chiefly confifts in the number of their flaves. In the article of food thefe Ifalams are remarkably temperate: it confifts chiefly of boiled rice, with a small proportion of buffalo, fifh, or fowl, and fometimes of dried fifh, and dried fhrimps, which are brought hither from China; every dish, however, is highly seasoned with Cayan pepper, and they have many kinds of pastry made of rice flower, and other things to which I am a ftranger; they eat also a great deal of fruit, particularly plantanes. But notwithstanding their general temperance, their feasts are plentiful, and, according to their manner, magnificent. As they are Mahometans, wine and ftrong liquors profeffedly make no part of their entertainment, neither do they often indulge with them privately, contenting themselves with their betel and opium. The |