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.]