e
governor, upon the plan of Blenheim, the famous seat of the Duke of
Marlborough in Oxfordshire, but it has never been finished. To these
hills also people are sent by the physicians for the recovery of their
health, and the effects of the air are said to be almost miraculous: The
patient grows well in a short time, but constantly relapses soon after
his return to Batavia.[145]

[Footnote 145: On approaching the mountains towards the southern parts
of the island, the heat of the air gradually diminishes, till at last,
especially in the morning and evening, it is absolutely cold, and cannot
be endured without the aid of such clothing as is used in winter in
other countries. How materially the proper use of such a change of
climate may operate to the restoration of health, can be easily imagined
by any one who has felt the different effects of deleterious heat and
invigorating cold. The island of Jamaica presents something very similar
to what is now related of the different climates in the vicinity of
Batavia.--E.]

But the same situation and circumstances which render Batavia and the
country round it unwholesome, render it the best gardener's ground in
the world. The soil is fruitful beyond imagination, and the conveniences
and luxuries of life that it produces are almost without number.

Rice, which is well known to be the corn of these countries, and to
serve the inhabitants instead of bread, grows in great plenty; and I
must here observe, that in the hilly parts of Java, and in many of the
eastern islands, a species of this grain is planted, which in the
western parts of India is entirely unknown. It is called by the natives
_Paddy Gunung_, or Mountain Rice: This, contrary to the other sort,
which must be under water three parts in four of the time of its
growth, is planted upon the sides of hills where no water but rain can
come: It is however planted at the beginning of the rainy season, and
reaped in the beginning of the dry. How far this kind of rice might be
useful in our West-Indian islands, where no bread corn is grown, it may
perhaps be worth while to enquire.[146]

[Footnote 146: The island of Java produces rice, which is the principal
food of millions, in such quantities, as to have obtained the title of
the granary of the East. Nearly three thousand cwt., it is said, were
furnished by it in the year 1767, for the use of Batavia, Ceylon, and
Banda. It is sown in low ground generally, and after it has g