The Banks Of The Canals Are Raced On Both Sides With Stone Quays,
As Far As The Boom, Which Is Shut Up Every Night, And Guarded By
Soldiers.
All the streets are in straight lines, most of them being,
above thirty feet broad on both sides, besides the canals, and they are
all paved with bricks next the houses.
All the streets are well-built
and fully inhabited, fifteen of them having canals for small vessels,
communicating with the main river, and shut up by booms, at which they
pay certain tolls for admission; and these canals are crossed by
fifty-six bridges, mostly of stone. There are numerous country-seats
around the city, most of them neat and well contrived, with handsome
fruit and flower gardens, ornamented with fountains and statues; and
vast quantities of cocoa-nut trees planted in numerous groves, every
where afford delightful shade. Batavia has many fine buildings,
particularly the Cross-church, which is handsomely built of stone, and
very neatly fitted up within. There are two or three other churches for
the Dutch presbyterians, and two for the Portuguese catholics, who are a
mixed race, besides one church for the Malay protestants. In the centre
of the city is the town-house, handsomely built of brick in form of a
square, and two stories high. In this all the courts are held, and all
matters respecting the civil government of the city are determined.
There are also hospitals, speir-houses, and rasp-houses, as in
Amsterdam, with many other public buildings, not inferior to those of
most European cities.
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