Page:Life in Java Volume 1.djvu/53

Rh to the east of the town, and the spot where the English troops disembarked prior to marching to attack the city in 1811.

It is said that a portion of Batavia itself stands on the site of the old Sundanese capital, once called Jacatra, or Work of Victory. At the present time, the part known as Jacatra is a small village, through which passes a good macadamised road, planted on either side with pepul trees, beyond which are numbers of small cottages or bungalows—at the doors or verandahs of which the traveller will see, as he passes in the cool of the evening, the occupants—most of whom are small salaried clerks—seated in their loose bajus and baggy pejamas, enjoying the fragrant weed—to them indeed the calumet of peace, after the toil and turmoil of a city life. Further on to the left, under the sombre shade of bread-fruit, jack, and cocoa-nut trees, with its base almost concealed by thorny bushes, there is a gate walled up, the two