To this description of the environs of Batavia there are but two exceptions. The Governor’s country house is situated upon a rising ground; but its ascent is so inconsiderable, that it is known to be above the common level only by the canals being left behind, and the appearance of a few bad hedges: his Excellency, however, who is a native of this place, has, with some trouble and expence, contrived to inclose his own garden with a ditch; such is the influence of habit both upon the taste and the understanding. A famous market also, called Passar Tanabank, is held upon an eminence that rises perpendicularly about thirty feet above the plain; and except these situations, the ground, for an extent of between thirty and forty miles round Batavia, is exactly parallel to the horizon. At the distance of about forty miles inland there are hills of a considerable height where, as we were informed, the air is healthy, and comparatively cool. Here the vegetables of Europe flourish in great perfection, particularly strawberries, which can but ill bear heat; and the inhabitants are vigorous and ruddy. Upon these hills some of the principal people have country houses, which they visit once a year; and one was begun for the Governor, upon the plan of Blenheim, the famous feat 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.

Voyaging Accounts