nts to the top of this mountain, where he perceived
a large cavity, into which he caused a man to be let down, to examine
the inside. On his return, this man reported that the mountain was
all hollow within, that he heard a most frightful noise of torrents of
water on every side, that he here and there saw flames bursting out,
so that he was afraid of going far, from apprehension of either being
stifled by the noxious vapours, or falling into one of the chasms. The
waters in the neighbourhood of this mountain are unwholesome, and even
those in the neighbourhood of Batavia are impregnated with sulphur,
those who drink much of them being liable to several disorders,
particularly the dysentery. But when boiled, their water is entirely
freed from the sulphur, and does no manner of harm, though drank
copiously.

The fruits and plants of Java are excellent and numberless. Among
these the cocoa-nut tree is by far the most valuable, as besides
its fruit already described, the bark makes a kind of hemp which is
manufactured into good ropes and cables; the timber serves to build
houses and ships, and the leaves serve to cover the former. It is said
that the father of a family in this country causes a cocoa-nut tree
to be planted at the birth of each of his children, by which each may
always know his own age, as this tree has a circle rising yearly on
its stem, so that its age may be known by counting these circles: and
when any one asks a father the ages of his children, he sends them to
look at his cocoa trees.

There are numerous woods or forests in different parts of the
island, in which are abundance of wild beasts, as buffaloes, tigers,
rhinoceroses, and wild horses. These also abound in serpents, some
of which are of prodigious size. Crocodiles are numerous and large in
this island, being mostly found about the mouths of the rivers; and,
being amphibious animals, delight much in marshes and savannahs. Like
the tortoise, this creature deposits its eggs in the hot sands,
taking no farther care of them, and the sun hatches them in the proper
season, when they immediately betake themselves to the water. A short
time before the arrival of Roggewein at Batavia, a crocodile was
taken in the mouth of the river to the east of the city, upwards of
thirty-three feet long, and proportionally large. They have fowls of
all kinds, and exquisitely good; particularly peacocks, partridges,
pheasants, and wood-pigeons. The Indian bat is a g