'■^4 



rCLoPcRA. 



INDIA BEYOND THE GANGES. 



land, infubted by feveral channels, which form various ifles, and 

 open by difl'erent mouths into thefea. 



The n-reater iile, or Pido Pera^ the antient P-?r?(;;;z^/^ empo- 

 rium, has a moft ufeful and magnificent harbor which runs far 

 inland, with various branches on the right and on the left ; it has 

 from eight to five fathoms of water ; a mountain rifes out of 

 the middle of the ifle ; the river that runs up the country is 

 called by Mr. Forreft, Pera. Before its mouth is Pulo Ding-Dlngj 

 and other ifles. That navigator* went up the river to vifit 

 the monarch of the country, who was attended by guards, 

 drefled in Cbinefe habits, with the dragon on their brealls. 



Farthep. to the fouth, in Lat. ?/ 50', the freights contrail in 

 PuloAru. breadth very confiderably. The fmall ifles Pulo Aru are in the 

 middle of the channel, which here begins to be greatly nar- 

 rowed by rocks and banks on each fliore. On the Malacca 

 fide, to the fouth-eaft of Pulo Aru, is a large bay, filled with flat 

 morafl}' ifles, divided by very narrow channels. On one of the 

 mofl: fouthern of them flands Mount Parcelar, a noted iea- 

 mark to fliips navigating this dangerous ftreight. 

 MALACCA Still more to the fouth, in Eat. 2° 20', is Malacca, the ca- 



^^'^^' pital city of the peninfula ; it probably fucceeded Perimula as 



the emporium of this part of India. When the great Albu- 

 querque had made his country fovereign oiQeylon, he turned his 

 thoughts towards this territory, and determined to give to Por-^ 

 tugal the whole commerce of the Eafb. At that time Malacca 

 poflTeflTed the entire trade oi India \ fliips from every port of 

 Uindoojlan, from China, the PhiUipine and the Molucca iflands, 



from 



