The houses are in general well adapted to the climate; they consist of one very large room, or hall, on the ground floor, with a door at each end, both which generally stand open:  At one end a room is taken off by a partition, where the master of the house transacts his business; and in the middle, between each end, there is a court, which gives light to the hall, and at the same time increases the draught of air.  From one corner of the hall the stairs go up to the floor above, where also the rooms are spacious and airy.  In the alcove, which is formed by the court, the family dine; and at other times it is occupied by the female slaves, who are not allowed to sit down any where else.[133]

[Footnote 133:  The houses are mostly built of brick, stuccoed without, and with sash-windows, so as to have a light agreeable appearance.  The plan of their internal construction is much the same in the whole.  On one side of a narrow passage into which you enter from the street, you have a parlour, and a little farther on, a large long room, lighted from an inner court, as is mentioned in the text.  The rooms in general are badly furnished, and are floored with dark-red stones.  The upper rooms are laid out like the under ones; Few of the private houses have gardens.—­E.]

The public buildings are most of them old, heavy, and ungraceful; but the new church is not inelegant; it is built with a dome, that is seen from a great distance at sea, and though the outside has rather a heavy appearance, the inside forms a very fine room:  It is furnished with an organ of a proper size, being very large, and is most magnificently illuminated by chandeliers.[134]

[Footnote 134:  There are several churches for the reformed religion, and service is performed in the Dutch, Portuguese, and Malay languages.  The description in the text is believed to apply to the Lutheran church, erected during the government of Baron Van Imhof.—­E.]

The town is enclosed by a stone wall of a moderate height; but the whole of it is old, and many parts are much out of repair.  This wall itself is surrounded by a river, which in some places is fifty, and in some a hundred yards wide:  The stream is rapid, but the water is shallow.  The wall is also lined within by a canal, which in different parts is of different breadths; so that, in passing either out or in through the gates, it is necessary to cross two draw-bridges; and there is no access for idle people or strangers to walk upon the ramparts, which seem to be but ill provided with guns.[135]

[Footnote 135:  The wall is built of coral rock, and part of it, according to Sir Geo. Staunton’s account, of lava of a dark-blue colour, and firm hard texture.  It has twenty two bastions mounted with artillery, and is surrounded by a broad moat, generally well filled with water.  There are five gates to the city; two on the south, the New Gate, and the Diast Gate; one on the north, the Square Gate; Rotterdam Gate on the east; and the Utrecht Gate on the west—­E.]