mittances 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 sing