Batavia

“ The country around Batavia is extremely beautiful, and it may be said that nature and art seem to strive which shall have the greatest share in adorning it. The air is sweet and mild, the land extremely fertile, and the face of the country finely diversified with hills and vallies, all laid out in regular plantations, beautiful canals, and whatever can contribute to render the country pleasant and agreeable. ”

“ Batavia proper is a commonplace city of featureless streets, brick-walled canals, and ramshackle public buildings, but the residential town of Weltevreden, suggesting a glorified Holland, combines the quaint charm of the mother country with the Oriental grace and splendour of the tropics. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Batavia, April 14, Anno 1772.
You 'll find the story in any book: the chap was a half-caste Guy Fawkes who conspired to deliver Batavia to the King of Bantam, was caught, tried, and torn asunder by horses. I nosed about and went through a hole in a side wall: nothing in the compound but green mould, dried stalks, dead leaves, and blighted banana trees. The inside of the gate was blocked with five to eight feet of cement. The Dutch hate solidly. ”

“ Owing to the distance intervening between each house, Batavia, although numbering only 70,000 inhabitants, apparently covers a larger area than Paris, and as the wealthy classes are concentrated in the upper quarters of the town, just as they are in the West End of London, it is there that one may see all that Batavia has to show of luxury, comfort, and elegance. ”

“ Batavia is the metropolis of the Dutch trade and settlements in India, and is well situated for the spice trade, which they have entirely in their own hands. There are seldom less than twenty sail of Dutch ships at Batavia, carrying from thirty to fifty and sixty guns each. Abraham van Ribeck was governor-general when we were there. His predecessor, as I was informed, had war with the natives of the island, who had like to have ruined the settlement ”

“ 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. ”

“ Batavia does not enchant me. The heat is tremendous. We have determined to-day to go and seek freshness on the wooded slopes of Buitenzorg, the summer resort of the Dutch Resident, situated a few hours out of Batavia. The railway-line from Batavia to Buitenzorg is one of the most picturesque in the world. ”

“ And Eva did not find Batavia the ideal city of Eurasian civilization which she had pictured it at Labuwangi. In this great money-grubbing centre, every trace of spontaneity had vanished and life became degraded to an everlasting seclusion in the office or at home. People never saw each other save at receptions ”

“ Batavia consumes a quantity of fruits hardly to be beleivd, the greatest part of which before they are sold are over ripe or otherwise bad, nor can a stranger easily get any that are good unless he goes to a street cald Passar Pissang, which lies North from the great church and very near it. ”

“ Such advantageous situations have enabled these two colonies to surmount all the obstacles which the oppressive genius of an exclusive company may have occasionally opposed to their growth: they have enabled Batavia to surmount the additional disadvantage, of perhaps the most unwholesome climate in the world. ”

“ Since the foundation of the town, the seashore has silted up to such an extent that the original harbour of Batavia, in which the Dutch East Indiamen of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries lay at anchor, has been abandoned, and a new port has been constructed at a point six miles to the eastward. The harbour works at Tanjong Priok, as the [64] present port of Batavia is called, and the railway which connects the port and town of Batavia, are one among many improvements set on foot in the island since the inauguration of a public-works policy by the Colonial Government in 1875. ”

“ By Sea it is impossible to attack Batavia on account of the shallowness of the water, which will scarce suffer even a longboat to come within Canon shot of the walls unless she keep a narrow channel walld on both sides by strong piers and running about 1⁄2 a mile into the harbour, which channel terminates exactly under the fire of the strongest part of the Castle, where is a large wooden boom which is shut every night at 6 o clock and not opend again till the morn upon any pretence. ”

“ The vicinity of Batavia affords the most beautiful drives; and hundreds of vehicles, from the handsome carriage and four of the Member of Council to the humble buggy of the merchant's clerk, may be seen every evening, from five till half-past six, that being the coolest and best time for taking out-of-door exercise. The roads are excellent, lined on both sides with trees, which keep them shaded and cool nearly all day. The scene is altogether gay, and affords a gratifying indication of the wealth and importance of this fine colony. ”

“ Thus escorted, the Esperanza sailed on towards Batavia; whence it was proposed that she should take fresh departure towards the little-known seas to the east, whither the Lion had been seen driving. Space will not allow an account of all the attentions paid to Beatrice and Constance at Batavia, and the magnificent fête which the governor gave in their honour; for, even in those good old days, fair ladies were not often found sailing round the world in search of lost lovers and mothers, albeit the so doing was a most praiseworthy and commendable act. ”

“ My illness prevented me from gaining much knowledge of Batavia. Of their public buildings I saw nothing that gave me so much satisfaction as their country hospital for seamen. It is a large commodious and airy building about four miles from the town, close to the side of the river, or rather in the river: for the ground on which it stands has by labour been made an island of, and the sick are carried there in a boat: each ward is a separate dwelling and the different diseases are properly classed. ”

“ In the environs of Batavia are a number of villages, some inhabited by Malays, and others by Chinese, who visit the island in great numbers, and carry on a considerable trade, notwithstanding the persecutions to which they have at times been subject. In various beautiful spots, both near the city or the neighbouring hills, and along the sea-shore, are found the large and handsome country residences of the chief merchants and other authorities connected with the Company. There are five principal roads which lead from the city towards the country, and which are planted with high and shady trees. ”

“ Batavia is the reunion of three separate towns: Weltewredeu, the new town, buried in luxuriant vegetation, with low-built white houses, surrounded by verandas, groves of palm and cocoa-nut, gives one the impression of a series of villas built in a large park; the Pettah, (old town) is an agglomeration of bamboo-huts forming narrow streets, inhabited by the natives, and separated from the European quarter by a cricket-ground; the so-called Chinese Town is inhabited only by Chinamen. ”

“ Modern Batavia had 111,763 inhabitants on December 31, 1894, less than a tenth of whom are Europeans, with 26,776 Chinese and 72,934 natives. While the eighteenth-century Stadhuis might have been brought from Holland entire, a steam tramway starts from its door and thence shrieks its way to the farthest suburb, the telephone “hellos” from center to suburb, and modern inventions make tropical living possible.
The Dutch do not welcome tourists, nor encourage one to visit their paradise of the Indies. ”

“ Our last stage was through the [Pg 141] Batavia woods, famed for their horrors, which were not abated by our having been informed at Russell’s, that not far from here a white man had lately been killed by the Indians. We found the road much better than we had anticipated; the last four miles were the worst. A little labor would make the road all very good, at least in dry weather. There is another way to come from Batavia here; but it is six miles further, and probably little or no better than this. ”

“ Be this as it will, Batavia is certainly a place that Europeans need not covet to go to; but if necessity obliges them, they will do well to make their stay as short as possible, otherwise they will soon feel the effects of the unwholesome air of Batavia, which, I firmly believe, is the Death of more Europeans than any other place upon the Globe of the same extent. ”

“ Mr Barrow estimates the population of Batavia, and the adjacent villages, at 116,000, of which only about 8000 are Europeans; the slaves are supposed 17,000, the Chinese 22,000, and the remainder consists of free Javanese or Malays. The streets of Batavia, he says, present a greater variety of races than are almost any where else to be found together. Among these, however, as is to be expected, the Dutchman is by much the most consequential, when he condescends, which is not frequent, to appear amongst the lower species. ”

“ The Dutch are famous for their clubs. These institutions flourish in Java, and in Batavia they contribute materially to the social life of [212] the place. Among many others, the Societeit Harmonie and the Concordia are the most considerable. At both of them frequent concerts and dances are held. In connection with this latter amusement, it was interesting to find that all the dancing at Batavia was done on marble. I was told that it was not considered unpleasant, and that the only wooden floor in the island was in the Governor-General's palace at Buitenzorg. ”

“ The Harbour of Batavia is generaly accounted the finest in India; and indeed it answers that character, being large enough to contain any number of ships, and having such good holding ground that no ships ever think of mooring but ride with one anchor, which always holds as long as the cable. How it is shelterd is dificult to say, the Islands without it being not by any means sufficient, but so it is that there never in it runs any sea to be at all troublesome to shipping. ”

“ It is true, these canals keep up an unwholsome humidity, which renders the stay at Batavia pernicious to Europeans. The insalubrity of this climate is likewise in part attributed to the bad quality of the water; therefore the rich people at Batavia drink nothing but Seltzer water, which they get from Holland at a vast expence. The streets are not paved; but on each side there is a broad and fine foot-pavement of free-stone, or of bricks; and Dutch cleanliness constantly keeps it in the best repair. ”

“ In husbandry and navigation they surpass all the other nations of India. Most of the sugar-mills around Batavia belong to them, and the distillery of arrack is entirely in their hands. They are the carriers of eastern Asia, and even the Dutch often make use of their vessels. They keep all the shops and most of the inns of Batavia, and farm all the duties of excise and customs. Generally speaking, they are well-made men, of an olive complexion, their heads being peculiarly round, with small eyes, and short flat noses. ”

“ The government of the residency of Batavia differs from that of the other residencies in having no native regencies, the lands being privately owned. The divisions of the residency are Batavia, town and surroundings, Tangerang, Meester Cornelis and Buitenzorg, the first being directly governed by a resident and the remainder by assistant residents. As early as the second half of the 17th century the Dutch East India Company began the practice of selling portions of the land to private persons, and of granting other portions as the reward of good services. ”

“ The unhealthiness of the climate of Batavia is connected, in the minds of many, with the fabulous properties of the poison tree of Java, and many are so ignorant of the island as to consider the climate of Batavia as a fair example of that of Java in general. History attests that this city has been highly pernicious to the health both of Europeans and Natives, almost from its foundation, and recent experience concurs with the testimony of history. ”

“ There is a great deal of pleasant society in Batavia. Rich Dutch merchants who have come out in their earlier years to make money, go home to settle; but the cold gloom of Holland sends them back to warmth and tropical life in Java. Though Java is to the Dutch what India is to us, unlike our Indian officials, who stay in India but to make enough money to go home to England, the Dutchman lives and returns to die in his adopted home. ”

“ These houses are inhabited by the principal people of Batavia, where they pass most of their time, and those amongst them who have no inducement to return to Europe, and who enjoy their health, may spend their days very comfortably here. ”