Fair-ivay of Straits of Malacca gradually contracting. 133 



the priest. In the same instant this gentleman instinctively 

 rid himself of the poisonous reptile by a vigorous kick, while 

 the various persons who hurried to the spot were resolved 

 they would secure this dangerous assailant dead or alive. 

 Within the narrow limits of a ship's state-room, a campaign 

 is speedily brought to a close. His snakeship was forthwith 

 routed out of his asylum, and hacked into more pieces than was 

 exactly agreeable to the zoologists, who had been extremely 

 anxious, and even expected, to preserve this now doubly in- 

 teresting reptile almost uninjured in spirits of wine. It was 

 a tolerably large specimen, one inch thick, and about three 

 feet long, and had apparently either wriggled up the cable, 

 or had been washed on board by a wave through the open 

 sky-light of the cabin. 



At length on the 9 th of April wind and weather changed, 

 and, in company with the entire squadron of companions in 

 misfortune, we sailed gaily into the Straits of Malacca, with all 

 sail set, and. dead before the wind. On the 1 1th of April, early 

 in the morning, we found Pulo-Penang (also called Areca, or 

 Prince of Wales' Island) lying broad on our port beam. Its 

 chains of forest-clad mountains, gloomy, and overcast with 

 dense masses of cloud, prevented our realizing the charms of 

 this possession of England, such as they have been described 

 by all who have visited it. 



On the 12th of April we steered between the Sambelongs, 

 or Nine Islands, and the island of Djara, and caught a glimpse 

 of the lofty well- wooded mountains of the kingdom of Perah. 



