ACCOUNT OF JAVA AND BATAVIA.

211

117 Brought forward - - /. 18,400

3 Suppofed to have died on the other fide of the■ Cape of Good Hope , who receive nothing

120 Men

So that every fhip’s crew receive for premiums /. 18,400

Which, however, in order to make a round fum, I

only take at - f 18,000

And computing that fince the year 1742, twenty-fivefhips have annually returned from India , confider-ing one year with another, the whole amount inpremiums for one year is jf.450,000

Since the navigation has been put upon this footing,that is, from 1742 to 1771, twenty-nine yearshave elapfed; fo that during that period the Com-pany have paid premiums to the amount of 13,050,000The intereft of this capital for twenty-feven years,at three per cent, per annum, which is annuallyaugmented by jf.13,500, amounts to* 103,000

So that the Company have loft a fum, for which they-

have no adequate benefit, of - f 18,153,000

May not the decay of Batavia, whofe chief fupport is the free trade of its inhabitants,in fome meafure likewife afcribed to this caufe ? People well worthy of credit, whohave lived for forty years and more at Batavia, have allured me that there is an incon-ceivable difference between the a&ual ftate of the city, with refpedt to trade, and itsflouri(hing fituation before the year 1740. Free inhabitants, who had never been in thef er vice of the Company, ufed then to return to Europe loaden with riches, very fewln ftances of which occur at prefent. Here in Holland, we may in confequence plainlyPerceive, that there is little chance of making money at prefent at Batavia by privatetr ade, and it is well known that it grows worfe from day to day.

It is true, that the Company at home are unable to reform all the abufes whicha ve crept in from time to time in fuch an extent of territory, as they poffefs in then dies; but they are too well acquainted with the adtual ftate of Batavia; and theProfperity or decay of that city, which is the centre, and as it were the pivot of alle, r poffeflions, is of too great and real importance to their interefts, than that theyfidf 1 not to endeavour to raife it out of that languid ftate into which it is progreflively

■Another thing which is a great drawback upon the profperity of Batavia, is thek a k® a nhinefs which has been perceived there for feveral years back. The mod pro-

fea cau fe hereof may be fought in the great increafe of the mud-banks along thewh C ° a .^ : ’ water only juft covers them; or they are flooded by the tide, which,en 11 recedes, leaves a thick flime behind it, together with a great deal of animal

Pound 0 ’^ 63 ^ ^ lrn P' e ’"ntereft, at three per cent, per annum, for twenty-feven years, we (hould take com-wh 0 i e ™ tere,r l> at the fame rate, for twenty-nine years, which would amount to f. .7,316,500, and theabout t0 t * le Company, during that period, by this regulation, would be /. 20,366,500 or

1 1 >*>51,500!. Tr.

EES

matter,