There Were
Also A Few Square-Rigged Trading-Vessels, And Twenty Or Thirty
Native Praus Of Various Sizes.
I brought letters of introduction to
a Dutch gentleman, Mr. Mesman, and also to a Danish shopkeeper,
who could both speak English and who promised to assist me in
finding a place to stay, suitable for my pursuits.
In the
meantime, I went to a kind of clubhouse, in default of any hotel in
the place.
Macassar was the first Dutch town I had visited, and I found it
prettier and cleaner than any I had yet seen in the East. The
Dutch have some admirable local regulations. All European houses
must be kept well white-washed, and every person must, at four in
the afternoon, water the road in front of his house. The streets
are kept clear of refuse, and covered drains carry away all
impurities into large open sewers, into which the tide is
admitted at high-water and allowed to flow out when it has ebbed,
carrying all the sewage with it into the sea. The town consists
chiefly of one long narrow street along the seaside, devoted to
business, and principally occupied by the Dutch and Chinese
merchants' offices and warehouses, and the native shops or
bazaars. This extends northwards for more than a mile, gradually
merging into native houses often of a most miserable description,
but made to have a neat appearance by being all built up exactly
to the straight line of the street, and being generally backed by
fruit trees.
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