ntry is the
slaves; for by slaves the Dutch, Portuguese, and Indians, however
different in their rank or situation, are constantly attended: They are
purchased from Sumatra, Malacca, and almost all the eastern islands.
The natives of Java, very few of whom, as I have before observed, live
in the neighbourhood of Batavia, have an exemption from slavery under
the sanction of very severe penal laws, which I believe are seldom
violated. The price of these slaves is from ten to twenty pounds
sterling; but girls, if they have beauty, sometimes fetch a hundred.
They are a very lazy set of people; but as they will do but little work,
they are content with a little victuals, subsisting altogether upon
boiled rice, and a small quantity of the cheapest fish. As they are
natives of different countries, they differ from each other extremely,
both in person and disposition. The African negroes, called here
_Papua_, are the worst, and consequently may be purchased for the least
money: They are all thieves, and all incorrigible. Next to these are the
Bougis and Macassars, both from the island of Celebes: These are lazy in
the highest degree, and though not so much addicted to theft as the
negroes, have a cruel and vindictive spirit, which renders them
extremely dangerous, especially as, to gratify their resentment, they
will make no scruple of sacrificing life. The best slaves, and
consequently the dearest, are procured from the island of Bali: The most
beautiful women from Nias, a small island on the coast of Sumatra; but
they are of a tender and delicate constitution, and soon fall a
sacrifice to the unwholesome air of Batavia.[159] Besides these, there
are Malays, and slaves of several other denominations, whose particular
characteristics I do not remember.

[Footnote 159: Other causes operate to the early extinction of these
unfortunate females,--the lusts of their masters, and the cruel
jealousy, ingenious and discriminating in torture, of their mistresses.
Stavorinus well explains what is here meant. Speaking of the ladies of
Batavia, he writes to this effect. In common with most women in India,
they have an extreme jealousy of their husbands and female slaves. If
they observe the least familiarity between them, they set no bounds to
their revenge against the poor creatures, who, in general, have no
alternative but that of gratifying their masters, or experiencing very
harsh usage from them. On such discovery, their mistresses pu