OF THE MALAYES. 



that part it gradually narrows till it ends nearly in a point at cape 

 Romano. All the interior parts' of the country are hilly ; the 

 lower grounds towards the fea manliy and wooded. 



In refpe(5t to the general view of the peninfula, its produc- 

 tions, and the lingular manners and government of the inhabi- 

 tants, it is impoffible to give a more clear ftatement than in 

 the words of M. Le Poivre, the author of the celebrated Voyages 

 ifun Pbilofophe. We ufe the tranflation of 1769, which is done 

 in a ftyle equally elegant with that of the original ; I will not in- 

 jure it by abridgment, but give the whole, from p. 67 to p. 78, 

 and afterwards fome explanatory remarks on certain parts, and a 

 brief account of the natural hiliory, colledted from different ma- 

 terials. In the articles of botany, mineralogy, and zoology, 

 there is fo great agreement between the produ61:ions of the op- 

 pofite Sumatra and the peninfula, that I fliall, except in a very 

 few inftances, defer entering on thofe fubjedls till I arrive in that 

 great ifland. 



I SHALL now return to M. LePohre. 



" Beyond the kingdom of Siam,'' fays that moft obfervant and Of the 



Malayes. 

 judicious traveller, "is the peninfula of Malacca, a country for- 



" merly w^ell peopled, and confequently well cultivated. This 



" nation was once one of the greatefl; powers, and made a very 



" confiderable figure on the thearre of AJla. The fga was 



*' covered with their fliips, and they carried on a moft extenfive 



** commerce. Their laws, however, were apparently very dif- 



*' ferent from thofe which fubfift among them at prefent. From 



«* time to time they fent out numbers of colonies, which, one 



" after another, peopled the illands of Sumatra^ "Java, Bor- 



Vol. III. F " neo. 



