rbs in great variety.
Around the city there is an extensive fenny plain, which has been
greatly improved and cultivated by the Dutch; but to the east it still
remains encumbered by woods and marshes. The city of Batavia is of a
square form, surrounded by a strong wall, on which are twenty-two
bastions, and has a river running through it into the sea. About the
year 1700 there was a great earthquake in Java, which overturned some
part of the mountains in the interior of the island, by which the course
of the river was altered; and since then the canals in Batavia and the
neighbourhood have not been nearly so commodious as formerly, nor has
the entrance of the river been so deep; and for want of a strong current
to keep it open, the Dutch have been obliged to employ a great machine
to preserve the navigation of the mouth of the river, so as to admit
small vessels into the canals which pervade the city. Batavia lies in a
bay in which there are seventeen or eighteen islands, which so
effectually protect it from the sea, that though large, the road is very
safe. The banks of the canals are raced on both sides with stone quays,
as far as the boom, which is shut up every night, and guarded by
soldiers. All the streets are in straight lines, most of them being,
above thirty feet broad on both sides, besides the canals, and they are
all paved with bricks next the houses. All the streets are well-built
and fully inhabited, fifteen of them having canals for small vessels,
communicating with the main river, and shut up by booms, at which they
pay certain tolls for admission; and these canals are crossed by
fifty-six bridges, mostly of stone. There are numerous country-seats
around the city, most of them neat and well contrived, with handsome
fruit and flower gardens, ornamented with fountains and statues; and
vast quantities of cocoa-nut trees planted in numerous groves, every
where afford delightful shade. Batavia has many fine buildings,
particularly the Cross-church, which is handsomely built of stone, and
very neatly fitted up within. There are two or three other churches for
the Dutch presbyterians, and two for the Portuguese catholics, who are a
mixed race, besides one church for the Malay protestants. In the centre
of the city is the town-house, handsomely built of brick in form of a
square, and two stories high. In this all the courts are held, and all
matters respecting the civil government of the city are determined.
There