(jhJeTvati^m on thi Straits of Malacca. igf 



tafie. The mangoftan, called in India the queen of fruits, is 

 found here in great abundance, fo that from two to three 

 hundred of them may be purchafed for a dollar. They grow 

 only in the ftraits of Malacca, Sunda, Banca, and in the- 

 ifland of Java. They are found neither at Madras nor Ben- 

 gal, nor in the Philippines or China. The ufual fruits of 

 India thrive here better than any where eife. The bay 

 abounds with well-tafted fifii, and excellent oyfters, crabs^ 

 cray-fifh, &c. Though this place lies nearly under the line, 

 the climate is exceedingly healthful, and nothing is known 

 here of thofe fevers and difeafes to which other Afiatic colo- 

 nies are fubjeil. The temperature of the air is cooled by the 

 fea and land breezes, which alternately prevail. The former 

 begins between eleven and one in the forenoon, and blows 

 very ftrongly till towards fix in the evening ; at which time, 

 however Itrong it may be, the land-breeze affumes its placcy 

 and continues till about -eleven the next day. By thefe means 

 an agreeable coolnefs is always preferved. At Calcutta, in 

 Bengal, the heat is much more intenfe and infupportable, 

 though it lies at the diftance of twenty-three degrees from 

 the line; for it is not uncommon there to fee Fahrenheit's 

 thermometer, in the fliade, during the months of April and 

 Mav, at between eighty and ninety degrees. ' At the interval 

 only when both winds ceafe, the heat is ftifling. The reafon 

 of the land-breeze here being fo cool is, that, as Malacca is 

 a peninfula, the wind always paffes over a portion erf fea, 

 >vhcrcas the land-breeze on the coaft of Coromandel paflea 

 over the burning defcrts of Perfia. 



The frequent and exceedingly violent thunder- florms 

 which take place here, contribute alfo very mtich to mode- 

 rate the heat. They arife moftly in the north-weft, and 

 bring with them fuch coolnefs that I remtmbcr having been 

 feveral times' fo cold that I was obliged to have recourfe to 

 warmer clothing. The body here, indeed, is far more fcn- 

 lible of the fmalleft degree of cold than in the European cli-* 

 mates, as the pores are kept fo open by the heat. Thefe 

 ftorms are hi.ohly gratifying to the navigators bound to the 

 Chineff fcas; for, as a fouth wind, except in a very few 

 places, where the fea and laud breezes fuccecd each other 



regularly. 



