418 DUTCH HISTORY «■ cattle. On the first attempt of the Dutch to use precautions against this force, hostilities commen- ced, and the Javanese at once proceeded to the as- sault of the fort, in Which they persevered, with ineffectual courage, for five hours. Numerous and frequent reinforcements arrived from Mataram, and the Javanese entrenched themselves. From the beginning of August until the end of November, the Javanese army besieged the half-finished for- tress of Batavia, defended by a handful of Euro- peans, and by a few Indian soldiers. After a va- riety of impotent attacks, the siege was raised, . and a force, which it is pretended, from first to last, did not amount to less than 077e hundred thou- sand men, was reduced by famine, sickness, deser- tion, and the sword, to ten thousand. - In the following year, the King of Mataram sent a second army against Batavia, which proved as unfortunate as the first. It is reported, though, in all probability, with exaggeration, to have amount- ed to one hundred and twenty thousand men ; and, when it raised the siege in the month of No- vember, before the commencement of the incle- ment season, to have lost, by the common causes of destruction in an army, to which, in the present instance, are to be added some horrible and exten- sive executions, one half its numbers. The Dutch, in the defence of their capital, received the most effectual assistance in the zeal, and, what is less to 12
