A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 13 by Robert Kerr

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9. Tamarinds. These are in great plenty, and very cheap: The people,
however, do not put them up in the manner practised by the West Indians,
but cure them with salt, by which means they become a black mass, so
disagreeable to the sight and taste, that few Europeans chuse to meddle
with them.

10. Water melons. These are in great plenty, and very good.

11. Pumpkins. These are beyond comparison the most useful fruit that can
be carried to sea; for they will keep without any care several months,
and with sugar and lemon-juice, make a pye that can scarcely be
distinguished from one made of the best of apples; and with pepper and
salt, they are a substitute for turnips, not to be despised.

12 Papaws. This fruit when it is ripe is full of seeds, and almost
without flavour; but if when it is green it is pared, and the core taken
out, it is better than the best turnip.

13. Guava. This fruit is much commended by the inhabitants of our
islands in the West Indies, who probably have a better sort than we met
with here, where the smell of them was so disagreeably strong that it
made some of us sick; those who tasted them said, that the flavour was
equally rank.

14. Sweet sop. The _Annona Squammosa_ of Linnaeus. This is also a
West-Indian fruit: It consists only of a mass of large kernels, from
which a small proportion of pulp may be sucked, which is very sweet, but
has little flavour.

15. Custard apple. The _Annona Reticulata_ of Linnaeus. The quality of
this fruit is well expressed by its English name, which it acquired in
the West Indies; for it is as like a custard, and a good one too, as can
be imagined.

16. The cashew apple. This is seldom eaten on account of its
astringency. The nut that grows upon the top of it is well known in
Europe.

17. The cocoa-nut. This is also well known in Europe: There are several
sorts, but the best of those we found here is called _Calappi Edjou_,
and is easily known by the redness of the flesh between the skin and the
shell.

18. Mangostan. The _Garcinia Mangostana_ of Linnaeus. This fruit, which
is peculiar to the East Indies, is about the size of the crab apple, and
of a deep red-wine colour: On the top of it is the figure of five or six
small triangles joined in a circle, and at the bottom several hollow
green leaves, which are remains of the blossom. When they are to be
eaten, the skin, or rather flesh, must be taken off, under which are
found six or seven white kernels, placed in a circular order, and the
pulp with which these are enveloped, is the fruit, than which nothing
can be more delicious: It is a happy mixture of the tart and the sweet,
which is no less wholesome than pleasant; and with the sweet orange,
this fruit is allowed in any quantity to those who are afflicted with
fevers, either of the putrid or inflammatory kind.

19. The jamboo. The _Eugenia Mallaccensis_ of Linnaeus. This fruit is of
a deep red colour, and an oval shape; the largest, which are always the
best, are not bigger than a small apple; they are pleasant and cooling,
though they have not much flavour.

20. The jambu-eyer. A species of the _Eugenia_ of Linnaeus. Of this fruit
there are two sorts of a similar shape, resembling a bell, but differing
in colour; one being red, the other white. They somewhat exceed a large
cherry in size, and in taste have neither flavour nor even sweetness,
containing nothing but a watery juice, slightly acidulated; yet their
coolness recommends them in this hot country.

21. Jambu-eyer mauwar. The _Eugenia Jambos_ of Linnaeus. This is more
grateful to the smell than the taste: In taste it resembles the conserve
of roses, and in smell the fresh scent of those flowers.

22. The pomegranate. This is the same fruit that is known by the same
name all over Europe.

23. Durion. A fruit that in shape resembles a small melon, but the skin
is covered with sharp conical spines, whence its name; for _dure_, in
the Malay language, signifies prickle. When it is ripe, it divides
longitudinally into seven or eight compartments, each of which contains
six or seven nuts, not quite so large as chesnuts, which are covered
with a substance that in colour and consistence very much resembles
thick cream: This is the part that is eaten, and the natives are fond of
it to excess. To Europeans it is generally disagreeable at first; for in
taste it somewhat resembles a mixture of cream, sugar, and onions; and
in the smell, the onions predominate.

24. Nanca. This fruit, which in some parts of India is called Jakes,
has, like the Durion, a smell very disagreeable to strangers, and
somewhat resembling that of mellow apples mixed with garlic: The flavour
is not more adapted to the general taste. In some countries that are
favourable to it, it is said to grow to an immense size. Rumphius
relates, that it is sometimes so large that a man cannot easily lift it;
and we were told by a Malay, that at Madura it is sometimes so large as
not to be carried but by the united efforts of two men. At Batavia,
however, they never exceed the size of a large melon, which in shape
they very much resemble: They are covered with angular prickles, like
the shootings of some crystals, which however are not hard enough to
wound those who handle them.

25. Champada. This differs from the Nanca in little except size, it not
being so big. .

26. Rambutan. This is a fruit little known to Europeans. In appearance
it very much resembles a chesnut with the husk on, and like that, is
covered with small points, which are soft, and of a deep red colour:
Under this skin is the fruit, and within the fruit a stone; the eatable
part thereof is small in quantity, but its acid is perhaps more
agreeable than any other in the whole vegetable kingdom.

27. Jambolan. This, in size and appearance, is not unlike a damascene;
but in taste is still more astringent, and therefore less agreeable.

28. The Boa Bidarra, or _Rhamnus Jujuba_ of Linnaeus. This is a round
yellow fruit, about the size of a gooseberry; its flavour is like that
of an apple, but it has the astringency of a crab.

29. Nam nam. The _Cynometra Cauliflora_ of Linnaeus. This fruit in shape
somewhat resembles a kidney; it is about three inches long, and the
outside is very rough: It is seldom eaten raw, but fried with batter it
makes a good fritter.

30, 31. The Catappa, or _Terminalia Catappa_; and the Canare, the
_Canarium Commune_ of Linnaeus, are both nuts, with kernels somewhat
resembling an almond; but the difficulty of breaking the shell is so
great, that they are no where publicly sold. Those which we tasted were
gathered for curiosity by Mr Banks from the tree upon which they grew.

32. The Madja, or _Limoni_ of Linnaeus, contains, under a hard brittle
shell, a lightly acid pulp, which cannot be eaten without sugar; and
with it, is not generally thought pleasant.

33. Suntul. The _Trichilia_ of Linnaeus. This is the worst of all the
fruits that I shall particularly mention: In size and shape it resembles
the Madja, and within a thick skin contains kernels like those of the
Mangostan, the taste of which is both acid and astringent, and so
disagreeable, that we were surprised to see it exposed upon the
fruit-stalls.

34, 35, 36. The Blimbing, or _Averrhoa Belimbi_; the Blimbing Besse, or
_Averrhoa Carambola_; and the Cherrema, or _Averrhoa Acida_ of Linnaeus,
are three species of one genus; and though they differ in shape, are
nearly of the same taste. The Blimbing Besse is the sweetest: the other
two are so austerely acid, that they cannot be used without dressing;
they make, however, excellent pickles and sour sauce.

37. The Salack, or _Calamus Rotang Zalacca_ of Linnaeus. This is the
fruit of a prickly bush; it is about as big as a walnut, and covered
with scales, like those of a lizard: Below the scales are two or three
yellow kernels, in flavour somewhat resembling a strawberry.

Besides these, the island of Java, and particularly the country round
Batavia, produces many kinds of fruit which were not in season during
our stay: We were also told that apples, strawberries, and many other
fruits from Europe, had been planted up in the mountains, and flourished
there in great luxuriance. We saw several fruits preserved in sugar,
that we did not see recent from the tree, one of which is called
_Kimkit_, and another _Boa Atap_: And here are several others which are
eaten only by the natives, particularly the _Kellor_, the _Guilindina_,
the _Moringa_, and the _Soccum_. The Soccum is of the same kind with the
breadfruit in the South-Sea islands, but so much inferior, that if it
had not been for the similitude in the outward appearance both of the
fruit and the tree, we should not have referred it to that class. These
and some others do not merit to be particularly mentioned.

The quantity of fruit that is consumed at Batavia is incredible; but
that which is publicly exposed to sale is generally over-ripe. A
stranger, however, may get good fruit in a street called Passar Pissang,
which lies north from the great church, and very near it. This street is
inhabited by none but Chinese fruit-sellers, who are supplied from the
gardens of gentlemen in the neighbourhood of the town with such as is
fresh, and excellent in its kind, for which, however, they must be paid
more than four times the market price.

The town in general is supplied from a considerable distance, where
great quantities of land are cultivated merely for the production of
fruit. The country people, to whom these lands belong, meet the people
of the town at two great markets; one on Monday, called Passar Sineeu,
and the other on Saturday, called Passar Tanabank. These fairs are held
at places considerably distant from each other, for the convenience of
different districts; neither of them, however, are more than five miles
distant from Batavia. At these fairs, the best fruit may be bought at
the cheapest rate, and the sight of them to a European is very
entertaining. The quantity of fruit is astonishing; forty or fifty
cart-loads of the finest pine-apples, packed as carelessly as turnips in
England, are common, and other fruit in the same profusion. The days,
however, on which these markets are held are ill contrived; the time
between Saturday and Monday is too short, and that between Monday and
Saturday too long: Great part of what is bought on Monday is always much
the worse for keeping before a new stock can be bought, either by the
retailer or consumer; so that for several days in every week there is no
good fruit in the hands of any people but the Chinese in Passar Pissang.

The inhabitants of this part of India practise a luxury which seems to
be but little attended to in other countries; they are continually
burning aromatic woods and resins, and scatter odours round them in a
profusion of flowers, possibly as an antidote to the noisome effluvia of
their ditches and canals. Of sweet-smelling flowers they have a great
variety, altogether unknown in Europe, the chief of which I shall
briefly describe.

1. The _Champacka_, or _Michelia Champacca_. This grows upon a tree as
large as an apple-tree, and consists of fifteen long narrow petala,
which give it the appearance of being double, though in reality it is
not so: Its colour is yellow, and much deeper than that of a jonquil, to
which it has some resemblance in smell.

2. The _Cananga_, or _Uvaria Cananga_, is a green flower, not at all
resembling the blossom of any tree or plant in Europe: It has indeed
more the appearance of a bunch of leaves than a flower; its scent is
agreeable, but altogether peculiar to itself.

3. The _Mulatti_, or _Nyctanthes Sambac_. This is well known in English
hot-houses by the name of Arabian jessamine: It grows here in the
greatest profusion, and its fragrance, like that of all other Indian
flowers, though exquisitely pleasing, has not that overpowering strength
which distinguishes some of the same sorts in Europe.

4, 5. The _Combang Caracnassi_, and _Combang Tonquin, Percularia
Glabro_. These are small flowers, of the dog's-bane kind, very much
resembling each other in shape and smell, highly fragrant, but very
different from every product of an English garden.

6. The _Bonga Tanjong_, or _Mimusops Elengi_ of Linnaeus. This flower is
shaped like a star of seven or eight rays, and is about half an inch in
diameter: It is of a yellowish colour, and has an agreeable smell.

Besides these, there is the _Sundal Malam_, or _Polianthes Tuberosa_.
This flower, being the same with our own tuberose, can have no place
among those that are unknown in Europe; but I mention it for its Malay
name, which signifies "Intriguer of the night," and is not inelegantly
conceived. The heat of this climate is so great, that few flowers exhale
their sweets in the day; and this in particular, from its total want of
scent at that time, and the modesty of its colour, which is white,
seems negligent of attracting admirers, but as soon as night comes on,
it diffuses its fragrance, and at once compels the attention, and
excites the complacency, of all who approach it.

These are all sold about the streets every evening at sunset, either
strung upon a thread, in wreaths of about two feet long, or made up into
nosegays of different forms, either of which may be purchased for about
a half-penny. Besides these, there are, in private gardens, many other
sweet flowers, which are not produced in a sufficient quantity to be
brought to market. With a mixture of these flowers, and the leaves of a
plant called _Pandang_, cut into small pieces, persons of both sexes
fill their hair and their clothes, and with the same mixture indulge a
much higher luxury by strewing it on their beds; so that the chamber in
which they sleep breathes the richest and purest of all odours,
unallayed by the fumes which cannot but arise where the sleeper lies
under two or three blankets and a quilt, for the bed covering here is
nothing more than a single piece of fine chintz.

Before I close my account of the vegetable productions of this part of
India, I must take some notice of the spices. Java originally produced
none but pepper. This is now sent from hence into Europe to a great
value, but the quantity consumed here is very small: The inhabitants use
_Capsicum_, or, as it is called in Europe, Cayan pepper, almost
universally in its stead. Cloves and nutmegs, having been monopolized by
the Dutch, are become too dear to be plentifully used by the other
inhabitants of this country, who are very fond of them. Cloves, although
they are said originally to have been the produce of Machian, or
Bachian, a small island far to the eastward, and only fifteen miles to
the northward of the line, and to have been from thence disseminated by
the Dutch, at their first coming into these parts, over all the eastern
islands, are now confined to Amboina, and the small isles that lie in
its neighbourhood; the Dutch having, by different treaties of peace
between them and the conquered kings of all the other islands,
stipulated, that they should have only a certain number of trees in
their dominions; and in future quarrels, as a punishment for
disobedience and rebellion, lessened the quantity, till at last they
left them no claim to any. Nutmegs have in a manner been extirpated in
all the islands except their first native soil, Banda, which easily
supplies every nation upon earth, and would as easily supply every
nation in another globe of the same dimensions, if there was any such
to which the industrious Hollander could transport the commodity: It is,
however, certain, that there are a few trees of this spice upon the
coast of New Guinea. There may perhaps be both cloves and nutmegs upon
other islands to the eastward; for those, neither the Dutch, nor any
other European, seem to think it worth while to examine.

The principal tame quadrupeds of this country, are horses, cattle,
buffaloes, sheep, goats, and hogs The horses are small, never exceeding
in size what we call a stout galloway, but they are nimble and spirited,
and are reported to have been found here when the Europeans first came
round the Cape of Good Hope. The horned cattle are said to be the same
species as those in Europe, but they differ so much in appearance, that
we were inclined to doubt it: They have indeed the _palearia_ or
_dewlap_, which naturalists make the distinguishing characteristic of
the European species, but they certainly are found wild, not only in
Java, but several of the eastern islands. The flesh of those that we eat
at Batavia, had a finer grain than European beef, but it was less juicy,
and miserably lean. Buffaloes are plenty, but the Dutch never eat them,
nor will they drink their milk, being prepossessed with a notion that
both are unwholesome, and tend to produce fevers; though the natives and
Chinese eat both, without any injury to their health. The sheep are of
the kind which have long ears that hang down, and hair instead of wool:
The flesh of these is hard and tough, and in every respect the worst
mutton we ever saw. We found here, however, a few Cape sheep, which are
excellent, but so dear that we gave five-and-forty shillings a-piece for
four of them, the heaviest of which weighed only five-and-forty pounds.
The goats are not better than the sheep; but the hogs, especially the
Chinese breed, are incomparable, and so fat, that the purchaser agrees
for the lean separately. The butcher, who is always a Chinese, without
the least scruple cuts off as much of the fat as he is desired, and
afterwards sells it to his countrymen, who melt it down, and eat it
instead of butter with their rice: But notwithstanding the excellence of
this pork, the Dutch are so strongly prejudiced in favour of every thing
that comes from their native country, that they eat only of the Dutch
breed, which are here sold as much dearer than the Chinese, as the
Chinese are sold dearer than the Dutch in Europe.

Besides these animals, which are tame, they have dogs and cats, and
there are among the distant mountains some wild horses and cattle:
Buffaloes are not found wild in any part of Java, though they abound in
Macassar, and several other eastern islands. The neighbourhood of
Batavia, however, is plentifully supplied with two kinds of deer, and
wild hogs, which are sold at a reasonable price by the Portuguese, who
shoot them, and are very good food.

Among the mountains, and in the desert parts of the island, there are
tigers, it is said, in great abundance, and some rhinoceroses: In these
parts also there are monkies, and there are a few of them even in the
neighbourhood of Batavia.

Of fish, here is an amazing plenty; many sorts are excellent, and all
are very cheap, except the few that are scarce. It happens here, as in
other places, that vanity gets the better even of appetite: The cheap
fish, most of which is of the best kind, is the food only of slaves, and
that which is dear, only because it is scarce, and very much inferior in
every respect, is placed upon the tables of the rich. A. sensible
house-keeper once spoke to us freely upon the subject. "I know," said
he, "as well as you, that I could purchase a better dish of fish for a
shilling, than what now costs me ten; but if I should make so good a use
of my money, I should here be as much despised, as you would be in
Europe, if you were to cover your table with offals, fit only for
beggars, or dogs."

Turtle is also found here, but it is neither so sweet nor so fat as the
West-Indian turtle, even in London; such as it is, however, we should
consider it as a dainty; but the Dutch, among other singularities, do
not eat it. We saw some lizards, or Iguanas, here of a very large size;
we were told that some were as thick as a man's thigh, and Mr Banks shot
one that was five feet long: The flesh of this animal proved to be very
good food.

Poultry is very good here, and in great plenty: Fowls of a very large
size, ducks, and geese, are very cheap; pigeons are dear, and the price
of turkies extravagant. We sometimes found the flesh of these animals
lean and dry, but this was merely the effect of their being ill fed, for
those that we fed ourselves were as good as any of the same kind that we
had tasted in Europe, and we sometimes thought them even better.

Wild fowl in general is scarce. We once saw a wild duck in the fields,
but never any that were to be sold. We frequently saw snipes of two
kinds, one of them exactly the same as that in Europe; and a kind of
thrush was always to be had in great plenty of the Portuguese, who, for
I know not what reason, seem to have monopolized the wild fowl and game.
Of snipes, it is remarkable, that they are found in more parts of the
world than any other bird, being common almost all over Europe, Asia,
Africa, and America.

With respect to drink, Nature has not been quite so liberal to the
inhabitants of Java as to some whom she has placed in the less fruitful
regions of the north. The native Javanese, and most of the other Indians
who inhabit this island, are indeed Mahometans, and therefore have no
reason to regret the want of wine; but, as if the prohibition of their
law respected only the manner of becoming drunk, and not drunkenness
itself, they chew opium, to the total subversion not only of their
understanding, but their health.[148]

[Footnote 148: Besides opium, both betel and a sort of tobacco is much
used by most people at Batavia. A lady scarcely ever goes out unattended
by a slave, who carries her betel box, to which she very frequently has
recourse. The constant use of this substance has a very unpleasant (i.
e. according to European opinion) effect on the teeth, rendering them
quite black! This, however, is not thought any disparagement of their
beauty, and it is believed that the toothache is prevented by the
practice of chewing. A few additional remarks on this subject are given
in the following section.--E.]

The arrack that is made here, is too well known to need a description:
Besides which, the palm yields a wine of the same kind with that which
has already been described in the account of the island of Savu: It is
procured from the same tree, in the same manner, and is sold in three
states. The first, in which it is called _Tuac manise_, differs little
from that in which it comes from the tree; yet even this has received
some preparation altogether unknown to us, in consequence of which it
will keep eight-and-forty hours, though otherwise it would spoil in
twelve: In this state it has an agreeable sweetness, and will not
intoxicate. In the other two states it has undergone a fermentation, and
received an infusion of certain herbs and roots, by which it loses its
sweetness, and acquires a taste very austere and disagreeable. In one of
these states it's called _Tuac cras_, and in the other _Tuac cuning_,
but the specific difference I do not know; in both, however, it
intoxicates very powerfully. A liquor called Tuac is also made from the
cocoa-nut tree, but this is used chiefly to put into the arrack, for in
that which is good it is an essential ingredient.

SECTION XXXIX.

_Some Account of the Inhabitants of Batavia, and the adjacent Country,
their Manners, Customs, and Manner of Life_.

The town of Batavia, although, as I have already observed, it is the
capital of the Dutch dominions in India, is so far from being peopled
with Dutchmen, that not one-fifth part, even of the European inhabitants
of the town, and its environs, are natives of Holland, or of Dutch
extraction: The greater part are Portuguese, and besides Europeans,
there are Indians of various nations, and Chinese, besides a great
number of negro slaves.[149] In the troops, there are natives of almost
every country in Europe, but the Germans are more than all the rest put
together; there are some English and French, but the Dutch, though other
Europeans are permitted to get money here, keep all the power in their
own hands, and consequently possess all public employments. No man, of
whatever nation, can come hither to settle, in any other character than
that of a soldier in the Company's service, in which, before they are
accepted, they must covenant to remain five years. As soon, however, as
this form has been complied with, they are allowed, upon application to
the council, to absent themselves from their corps, and enter
immediately into any branch of trade which their money or credit will
enable them to carry on; and by this means it is that all the white
inhabitants of the place are soldiers.

[Footnote 149: Mr Barrow estimates the population of Batavia, and the
adjacent villages, at 116,000, of which only about 8000 are Europeans;
the slaves are supposed 17,000, the Chinese 22,000, and the remainder
consists of free Javanese or Malays. The streets of Batavia, he says,
present a greater variety of races than are almost any where else to be
found together. Among these, however, as is to be expected, the Dutchman
is by much the most consequential, when he condescends, which is not
frequent, to appear amongst the lower species. Mr B.'s description of
this important being may amuse the reader. "The Dutchman, whose
predominant vice in Europe is avarice, rising into affluence in an
unhealthy foreign settlement, almost invariably changes this part of his
character, and, with a thorough contempt of the frugal maxim of Molier's
L'Avare, lives to eat, rather than eats to live. His motto is, 'Let us
eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.' He observes, it is true, the old
maxim of rising at an early hour in the morning, not however for the
sake of enjoying the cool breeze, and of taking moderate exercise, but
rather to begin the day's career of eating and drinking. His first essay
is usually a _sopie_, or glass of gin to which succeed a cup of coffee
and a pipe. His stomach thus fortified, he lounges about the great hall
of the house, or the viranda, if in the country, with a loose
night-gown, carelessly thrown over his shoulders, a night-cap and
slippers, till about eight o'clock, which is the usual hour of
breakfast. This is generally a solid meal of dried meat, fish, and
poultry, made into curries, eggs, rice, strong beer, and spirits.
_Currie_ and rice is a standing dish at all meals, and at all seasons of
the year, being considered as an excellent stimulus to the stomach. The
business of the day occupies little more than a couple of hours, from
ten to twelve, when he again sits down to dinner, a meal that is
somewhat more solid than the breakfast. From table he retires to sleep,
and remains invisible till about five in the evening, when he rises and
prepares for a ride or a walk, from which he uniformly returns to a
smoking-hot supper." So much for the portly Dutchman at Batavia,--a sort
of animal not unsuccessfully emulated, as to substantials, by a certain
_genus_ in some islands of the West Indies!-E.]