J 94 Ohfervat'toTis on the Strflits of Malacca^ 



themfelves in the place. The market was well fupplied with 

 fruits, fifli, and other neceflaries. A confiderable trade had 

 alfo begun to be carried qn. Ships from Bengal brought 

 hither opium, rice, and cotton, which were bartered for 

 pepper, tin, betelrnuts, and gold-duft. All the company's 

 fhips touch here in their voyage to China, qs well as the 

 large fleets from Bombay and Madras. The arrival of fo 

 many veflTels makes this place a ftaple, where buying, fell- 

 ing and bartering are continually going on. The harbour, 

 which is formed by the coaft of Queda and the eaft coaft of 

 the ifland, is deep, and fecure from every wind, Thofe who 

 are unacquainted with its geographical fituation imagine 

 they are entering a river; fo iliort is its diftance from the 

 continent. When viewed from the weft fide, the ifland ap- 

 pears to be round, and its mountains may be feen at a con- 

 fiderable diftance. It is about thirty-five or thirty-fix miles 

 in circumference. The prefent inhabitants have applied 

 chiefly to the cultivation of pepper, which is in a thriving 

 condition, and promifes to turn out very advantageous. As 

 the ifland produces excellent timber for fliip-building, docks 

 Jiave been formed, and a great many, vcflels have already 

 been launched. 



A few miles from the town is a foreft, which, rifing gra- 

 dually, covers the mountains behind it. From the fummit 

 of the hiaheft of thefe mountains a large ftream of water 

 projefts itfelf more than a hundred feet, with a prodigious 

 roaring noife, on the rocks below, where, after bting col- 

 le6ted in various natural bafons, it forms a fmall rivulet, and 

 then proceeds through the town, with a winding courfe, to 

 the fea. One can hardly conceive how plealant and refrefli- 

 inc: it is for thofe relaxed bv the heat of the climate to bathe 

 in one of thofe bafong, as the water is kept in a continual 

 ftate of coolnefs by the fliady branches of the trees, which 

 form over them a fort of arches, and defend them from the 

 rays of the fun. The coolnefs of thefe groves, the majeftic 

 roar of the waterfall, and the noife of a variety of unknown 

 infeSc, make this an agreeable retreat to thofe who have a 

 tafte for the beauties of nature. In the year 1796, country- 

 hoafes vvere erefled amldfl thefe fairy grovps, which, in 



the 



