Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/25

Rh very ancient, and were formerly occupied by Portuguese and Dutch families, who, finding the quarter very insalubrious in consequence of the miasma arising from the river and neighbouring marshes—which obtained for Batavia the name of the unhealthiest of Eastern cities—deserted these commodious-looking buildings for the more salubrious localities of Weltervalden, Parapattan, Cornelius, &c., four miles farther in the interior. Now, with the exception of a few inhabited by mestizos, with prolific families, they are chiefly converted into warehouses.

The Kali Basar, or Great River, passes through the town, having some fine offices on one side, and on the other inferior native buildings; then flowing through the walled canal I have before mentioned, it disembogues itself into the harbour. Beyond the gates, situated to the left of the inner canal, we had a peep of the Chinese campong,