The blacks or negroes at Batavia are mostly Mahomedans, who come chiefly from Bengal, dressing like the Malays, and living in the same quarter of the city.  Some of them work at different mechanic trades, and others are a kind of pedlars; but the most considerable of them trade in stones for buildings, which they bring from the neighbouring islands.

The Amboinese are chiefly employed in building houses of bamboos, the windows of which are made of split canes, very nicely wrought in various figures.  They are a bold boisterous race, and so turbulent that they are not permitted to reside in the city, but have their quarter near the Chinese burying ground.  The chief of their own nation, to whom they pay the utmost submission, has a magnificent house in their quarter, well furnished after their manner.  Their arms are chiefly large sabres and long bucklers.  The men wear a piece of cotton cloth wrapped round their heads, the ends of which hang down behind, and adorn this species of turban with a variety of flowers.  Their women wear a close habit, and a cotton mantle over their shoulders, having their arms bare.  Their houses are built of boards, thatched with leaves, usually two or three stories high, the ground floor especially being divided into several apartments.

The Mardykers or Topasses are idolaters from various Indian nations, and follow various trades and professions; and their merchants, under licences or passports from the company, carry on considerable commerce among the neighbouring islands.  Some of these people are gardeners, others rear cattle, and others breed fowls.  The men of this mixed tribe generally dress after the Dutch fashion, but the women wear the habits of other Indians.  These people dwell both in the city and country, their houses being better than those of the other Indians, built of stone or brick, several stories high, and very neat.  There are also some Macassers at Batavia, so famous for their little poisoned arrows, which they blow from tubes.  This poison is made of the juice of a certain tree, which grows in Macasser and the Bougis islands, into which they dip the points of the arrows and allow them to dry.  The wound inflicted by these arrows is absolutely mortal.  The Bougis are natives of three or four islands near Macasser, and since the conquest of that island have settled at Batavia.  They are very bold and hardy fellows, for which reason they are employed as soldiers by the company.  Their arms are bows and arrows, with sabres and bucklers.  Besides these enumerated nations, which contribute to form the population of Batavia, there are several Armenians and some other Asiatics who reside there occasionally for the sake of trade, and stay no longer than their affairs require, All the inhabitants around Batavia, and for a track of about forty leagues along the mountains of the country of Bantam, are immediately subject to the governor-general, who sends drossards or commissaries among them, to administer justice, and to collect the public revenues; and the chief men of the several districts resort at certain times to Batavia, to give an account of the behaviour of these commissaries.