ACCOUNT OF JAVA AND BATAVIA. 1 79
the bank. Its capital is computed to amount to between two and three millions ofrix-dollars *.
The fuburbs of Batavia are remarkable, on account of their confiderable extent,uncommon pleafantnefs, and great population. They are inhabited by Indians ofvarious nations, and by fome Europeans . The Chinefe quarter is the mod populousof all, and feems itfelf a city, with numerous ftreets; yet their houfes are mean,and little. It is crowed with fhops, containing all kinds of goods, as well thofe oftheir own manufacture, and fuch as they receive annually from China , as what theybuy up of thofe imported from Europe . The number of the Chinefe, who live bothwithin and without the walls of the city, cannot be determined with precifion ; but itmuft be very confiderable, as the Company receive a poll-tax from them of more thanforty thoufand rix-dollars.
Every Chinefe, who has a profeffion, is obliged to pay a monthly poll-tax of half aducatoon f ; women, children, and thofe who have no trade, are exempted from thetax; fo that their number can only be guefled at. They are under a chief of theirown nation, who is known by the appellation of Chinefe Captain ; he lives withinthe walls, and has fix lieutenants under him, in different diftri&s. A flag is hoifledat his door, on the firfl or fecond day in every month, and the Chinefe liable to thetax are then obliged to come to him to pay it.
Like the Jews in Europe , they very are cunning in trade, both in the largeft dealingsand in the moft trifling pedlery. They are fo defirous of money, that a Chinefe willrun three times from one end of the city to the other, if he have but the profpect ofgaining one penny. In doing any bufinefs with them, the greatefl care muft be takento avoid being cheated.
Their ftature is rather Ihort than tall, and they are in general tolerably fquare.They are not fo brown as the Javanefe. They fhave their heads all round, leaving abunch of hair on the middle of the crown, which is twifted with a ribbon, and hangsdown the back. Their drefs confifts in a long robe of nankeen, or thin filk, withwide fleeves, and under it they wear drawers of the fame which cover their legs.
In every houfe, there is a niche or place, where the image is hung up, of one oftheir jooftjes, or idols, painted on Chinefe paper. Before it they keep one or morelamps always burning, as alfo a kind of incenfe, which is made into little thin tapers.This idol is generally depi&ed as an old man, with a fquare cap upon his head, anda female, defigned for his wife, next to him. About an hour’s walk out of the city,juft beyond Fort Ansjol, they have a temple, Handing in a grove of cocoa-nut-trees,by the fide of a rivulet, and in the midft of a moft pleafant fcenery. The buildingis about twenty feet in length, and twelve or thirteen in breadth. The entrance isthrough a railing, into a fmall area, and then into a hall, behind which is the fanctuary.In the middle, juft within the door is a large altar, on which tapers, made of red wax,are kept burning, night and day. There is alfo an image of a lion richly gilt. In aniche behind the altar, are reprefentations of an old man and woman, both withcrowns upon their heads, and about two feet in height, which are their idols; andas they look upon their jooftje to be an evil fpirit, they continually fupplicate him notto do them any harm. In their adorations, they proftrate themfelves before him, andendeavour to exprefs the awe and reverence they entertain, by ftriking their headcontinually againft the ground.
* Or between four hundred and thirty-five thoufand and’ fix hundred and fifty thoufand poundsfterling. Tr. ^
f A ducatoon is fixty-fix ftivers, or fix (hillings fterling. Tr.
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