ACCOUNT OF JAVA AND BATAVIA.
213
The letter which the Emperor of Candy lent- to the government at Batavia, afterthe conclufion of peace, containing the full powers of his embaffadors to negotiateconcerning certain matters, which could not be adjufted at Ceylon, was written upona leaf of beaten gold, in the fhape of a cocoa-leaf; the letters were engraved upon itwith a fteel pen, in a moll curious manner. This leaf was rolled up, and inferted ina cylindrical cafe of gold, which was wound all round with a row of pearls, ftrungupon gold thread. This cafe was in a box of maffy gold,, and this again in one offilver, which was fealed with the emperor’s great feal, impreffed in red wax. Thefdver box was inclofed in one of ivory, which was put in a bag of rich cloth of gold;and finally, a bag of fine white linen, fealed up with the emperor’s leffer fignet, en-circled the whole.
When thefe embaffadors had their audience of the council of India , they were re-ceived with extraordinary honour; all the members of the affembly ftanding up, bothwhen they came in and when they went out, though without uncovering their heads.When the embaffadors left Batavia, they were each prefented with a gold chain by thecouncil.
All goods which are carried into or out of Batavia are fubject to duties, which arelevied at the bar, at the entrance of the city. Thefe, as well .as the other taxes andimpofts, are annually farmed out, generally to Chinefe. The whole of them amounttogether upon an average, to 32,000 rix-doliars, or fj 6 ,&oo per month, making/• 92 i ,600 per annum*.
Of the feveral iflands which lie before Bataviaf, there are no more than four whichare made any ufe of by the Company, and of thefe that of Onruft is the principal. Thisifland lies about three leagues north-weft from Batavia; it is nearly round; it rifesfix or eight feet above the furface of the water, and is of fmall extent, being aboutfour thoufand eight hundred feet in circumference. In the centre of the ifland, andwithin a fort, confiding of four baftions and three curtains, ftand the warehoufes andother buildings. On thefe fortifications, and on three fmall out-works which are con-ftructed at the water’s edge, the walls of all which are whitened with lime, are mountedfixteen pieces of cannon, of various fizesj.
tree (licuala fpinofa), are ufed inftead of paper. The leaves of both thefe palm trees, He in folds like aran, and the flips Hand in need of no further preparation, than merely to be feparated, and cut fmooth'"'ith a knife. Their mode of writing upon them confifts in engraving the letters with a fine pointed ileel;^nd in order that the characters may be the better feen and read, they rub them over with charcoal, ortome other black fubllance. The iron point made ufe of for a pen is either fet in a brafs handle, and car-ried about in a wooden cafe, of about fix inches in length, or elfe it is formed entirely of iron ; and to-gether with the blade of a knife, defigned for the purpofe of cutting the leaves, and making them fmooth,ret in a knife handle, common to them both, and into which it fhuts up. When a fingle flip is not fuffi-eient, feveral are bound together by means of a hole made at one end, and a thread on which they aretrung. Jf a book be to be made, they look out piincipally for broad and handfome flips of talpat leaves,PP° n which they engrave the charadlers very elegantly and accurately with the addition of various figures,y way of ornament. All the flips have then two holes made in them,and are ffrung upon a filken cord, andcovered with two thin lacquered boards. By means of the cords, the leaves are held even together, and byeuig drawn out when they are wanted to be ufed, they may be feparated from each othet at pleafure. Tr.
About 83,8001. fterling. Tr.
+ They are in all fifteen in number, and have the following names given to them : Onruft, de Kuiper,urmerend, Engels Onruft, Rotterdam, Schiedam , Middleburgh, Amtferdam, Horn, Harlem, Edam,nk.iuizen, Alkmaar , Leyden, and Vader Smit. The two firft are the innermoft, and are fronting andfight of the city. Tr. ... „
,, t ' Phe fortified island of Onruft,” fays Captain Parish, “ is well fituated to command the channelat affords the principal paffage into the road. . The work upon that ifland wa„ of a pentagonal form ;
its