In December The West-Wind Blows With Such Violence As To
Stop All Navigation On The Coast Of Java.
In February the weather is
changeable, with frequent sudden thunder-gusts.
They begin to sow in
March; June is the pleasantest month; and in September they gather in
their rice, and cut the sugar-canes. In October they have abundance of
fruits and flowers, together with plants and herbs in great variety.
Around the city there is an extensive fenny plain, which has been
greatly improved and cultivated by the Dutch; but to the east it still
remains encumbered by woods and marshes. The city of Batavia is of a
square form, surrounded by a strong wall, on which are twenty-two
bastions, and has a river running through it into the sea. About the
year 1700 there was a great earthquake in Java, which overturned some
part of the mountains in the interior of the island, by which the course
of the river was altered; and since then the canals in Batavia and the
neighbourhood have not been nearly so commodious as formerly, nor has
the entrance of the river been so deep; and for want of a strong current
to keep it open, the Dutch have been obliged to employ a great machine
to preserve the navigation of the mouth of the river, so as to admit
small vessels into the canals which pervade the city. Batavia lies in a
bay in which there are seventeen or eighteen islands, which so
effectually protect it from the sea, that though large, the road is very
safe.
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