The History of Java, v. 1-2Raffles, Thomas Stamford, Sir
History
The History of Java, v. 1-2
Raffles, Thomas Stamford, Sir
Java (Indonesia) -- History
The general inference which has been drawn by professional men,
from the experience which the occupation of Java by the British has
afforded, is, that with the exception of the town of Batavia, and some
parts of the northern coast, the island of Java stands on a level, in
point of salubrity, with the healthiest parts of British India, or of
any tropical country in the world.
The principal stations of the British army, composed of Europeans and
Sepoys, were at Weltevreden, within three miles of the town of Batavia,
and at _Semárang_ and _Surabáya_, spots certainly less favourable to
health than the rest of the island taken generally; but detachments
from it have occasionally done duty in every district of the island.
The tables included in the Appendix[28], will shew, that
notwithstanding the troops laboured under many disadvantages and
privations, in point of accommodation, &c. to which they would not
have been subjected in a more permanent settlement, and that they were
otherwise exposed to diseases unconnected with those of the climate,
the average casualties were not excessive. From the 1st November, 1813,
to the same month in 1814, the average number of troops is stated to
have been 7,470, the deaths 504, making a proportion of 1 to 14-8: the
average number of sick in the same period was 862, making a proportion
of sick to well as 1 to 8. From the beginning of November 1814 to the
same month in 1815, out of an average number of troops stationed in
different parts of the island, in corps and detachments, amounting to
7,487, there were 252 deaths, 63 of which were caused by fever, 123 by
dysentery, and 65 by other diseases, making an average number of deaths
of 21 per month, or in the proportion of one death to thirty men in
the year, a proportion not exceeding that of some of the healthiest
possessions in temperate climates.
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