own tuberose, can have no place among those that are unknown in Europe; but I mention it for its Malay name, which fignifies Intriguer of the Night," and is not inelegantly conceived. The heat of this climate is fo great, that few flowers exhale their fweets in the day, and this, in particular, from its total want of fcent at that time, and the modefty of its colour, which is white, feems negligent of attracting admirers; but as foon as night comes on it diffufes its fragrance, and at once compels the attention, and excites the complacency of all who approach it.

1770.

December.

Thefe are all fold about the streets every evening at fun-fet, either ftrung upon a thread in wreaths of about two feet long, or made up into nofegays of different forms, either of which may be purchased for about a halfpenny. Befides thefe, there are in private gardens many other fweet flowers, which are not produced in a fufficient quantity to be brought to market. With a mixture of these flowers, and the leaves of a plant called pandang, cut into fmall pieces, perfons of both fexes fill their hair and their clothes, and with the fame mixture indulge a much higher luxury, by ftrewing it on their beds; fo that the chamber in which they fleep breathes the richest and pureft of all odours, unallayed by the fumes, which cannot but arife where the fleeper lies under two or three blankets and a quilt; for the bed covering here is nothing more than a fingle piece of fine chintz.

'Before I close my account of the vegetable productions of this part of India, I must take fome notice of the fpices. Java originally produced none but pepper. This is now fent from hence into Europe to a great value, but the quantity confumed here is very fmall : the inhabitants ufe Capficum, or, as it is called in Europe, Cayan pepper, almoft univerfally in its ftead. Cloves and nutmegs, having been monopolized by the Dutch, are become too dear to be plentifully ufed by the other inhabitants of this country, who are very fond of them. Cloves, although they are faid originally to have been the produce of Machian, or Bachian, a fmall ifland far to the eastward, and only fifteen miles to the northward of the line, and to have been from thence diffeminated by the Dutch, at their first coming into

thefe

1770. thefe parts, over all the eastern islands, are now conDecember, fined to Amboina, and the fmall ifles that lie in its

neighbourhood; the Dutch having, by different treaties of peace between them and the conquered kings of all the other islands, ftipulated that they fhould have only a certain number of trees in their dominions, and in future quarrels, as a punishment for difobedience and rebellion, leffened 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 native foil, Banda, which eafily fupplies every nation upon earth, and would as easily supply every nation in another globe of the fame dimenfions, if there was any fuch to which the induftrious Hollander could tranfport the commodity; it is, however, certain, that there are a few trees of this fpice upon the coaft of New Guinea. There may perhaps be both cloves and nutmegs upon other iflands to the eastward; for thofe neither the Dutch nor any other European feem to think it worth while to examine.

The principal tame quadrupeds of this country are horfes, cattle, buffaloes, fheep, goats, and hogs. The horfes are fmall, never exceeding in fize what we call a ftout 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 faid to be the fame fpecies as thofe of Europe; but they differ fo much in appearance, that we are inclined to doubt it. They have, indeed, the palearia or dewlap, which naturalifts make the diftinguishing characteristic of the European fpecies, but they certainly are found wild, not only in Java but feveral of the eastern islands. The flesh of thofe that we eat at Batavia had a finer grain than European beef, but it was lefs juicy, and miferably lean. Buffaloes are plenty, but the Dutch never eat them, nor will they drink their milk, being prepoffeffed with, a notion that both are unwholefome, and tend to produce fevers`; though the natives and Chinese eat both, without any injury to their health. The fheep are of the kind which have long ears that hang down, and hair instead of wool: the flesh of thefe is hard and tough, and in every refpect the worst mutton we ever faw.

We found

here,

here, however, a few Cape fheep, which are excellent, but fo dear that we gave five-and-forty fhillings 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 fo fat, that the purchaser agrees for the lean feparately. The butcher, who is always a Chinese, without the leaft fcruple cuts off as much of the fat as he is defired, and afterwards fells 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 fold as much dearer than the Chinese, as the Chinese are fold dearer than the Dutch in Europe.

Befides these animals, which are tame, they have dogs and cats, and there are among the distant mountains fome wild horses and cattle: buffaloes are not found wild in any part of Java, though they abound in Macaffar, and feveral other eastern islands. The neighbourhood of Batavia, however, is plentifully fupplied with two kinds of deer and wild hogs, which are fold at a reasonable price by the Portuguese, who fhoot them, and are very good food.

Among the mountains, and in the defart parts of the island, there are tygers, it is said, in great abundance, and some rhinocerofes; in thefe parts alfo there are monkies, and there are a few of them even in the neighbourhood of Batavia.

Of fish, here is an amazing plenty; many forts 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 for flaves; and that which is dear, only because it is scarce, and very much inferior in every refpe&t, is placed upon the tables of the rich. A fenfible housekeeper once spoke to us freely upon the fubje&t: I know, faid he, as well as you, that I could purchase a better dish of fish for a fhilling, than what now cofts me ten; but if I fhould make fo good a use of my money, I should VOL. II.

Kk

here

1770. December.

1770, here be as much despised as you would be in Europe, December. if you were to cover your table with offals, fit only for beggars or dogs.

Turtle is alfo found here, but it is neither fo fweet nor fo fat as the West Indian turtle, even in London; fuch as it is, however, we should confider it as a dainty; but the Dutch, among other fingularities, do not eat it. We faw fome lizards, or iguanas, here of a very large fize; we were told that fome were as thick as a man's thigh; and Mr. Banks hot 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 fize, 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 thofe that we fed ourselves were as good as any of the fame kind that we had tafted in Europe, and we fometimes thought them even better.

Wild fowl in general is scarce. We once faw a wild duck in the fields, but never any that were to be fold. We frequently faw fnipes of two kinds, one of them exactly the fame 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 reafon, feem to have monopolized the wild fowl and game. Of fnipes, 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 refpect to drink, Nature has not been quite fo liberal to the inhabitants of Java, as to fome whom the has placed in the lefs fruitful regions of the north. The native Javanese, and most of the other Indians who inhabit this ifland, are indeed Mahometans, and there-. fore have no reafon to regret the want of wine; but, as if the prohibition of their law refpe&ted only the manner of becoming drunk, and not drunkenness itself, they chew opium, to the total fubverfion not only of their understanding, but their health.

The arrack that is made here is too well known to need a defcription; befides which, the palm yields a wine of the fame kind with that which has already

been

December.

been described in the account of the island of Savu; it 1770. is procured from the fame tree, in the same manner, and is fold in three ftates. The firft, in which it is called Tuac manife, differs little from that in which it comes from the tree; yet even this has received fome preparation altogether unknown to us, in confequence of which it will keep eight-and-forty hours, though otherwise it would fpoil in twelve; in this fate it has an agreeable sweetness, and will not intoxicate: in the other two states it has undergone a fermentation, and received an infufion of certain herbs and roots, by which it loses its sweetness, and acquires a taste very auftere and disagreeable. In one of these states it is 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 effential ingredient.

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 fo 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 rest put together: there are some 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 Kk 2 which,