382 PEDIR. 



assumed a more populous and cultivated appear* 

 ance : cocoa-palms abounded on the beach ; 

 thatched houses of the natives were numerous, and 

 canoes and larger boats were busily fishing ; the 

 whole aspect of the coast was animated and pictu- 

 resque. From light winds and calms, and strong 

 adverse currents, we were often obliged to anchor 

 and did not reach the anchorage off the village of 

 Pedir until the afternoon of the subsequent day 

 (the 1st of July). 



The situation of " Pedir" is an extensive, fer- 

 tile flat, interspersed with low verdant hills, 

 and the distance terminating in lofty mountains, 

 covered most profusely with vegetation. The vil- 

 lage of "Pedir" (from which some extent of coast, 

 to the eastward, has been named by Europeans 

 the "Pedir Coast") is situated a short distance up 

 a small and narrow river : the residence of the 

 rajah, and a portion of the village, could be dis- 

 tinguished from the shipping in the roadstead. 

 The plain through which the. river flows, and 

 upon the banks of which the village of Pedir is 

 situated, is an extensive flat, or, for the most 

 part, a series of marshes abounding in rice planta- 

 tions, and extending to some distance inland, 

 apparently terminated by a dense jungle and 

 ranges of mountains towering one above the 

 other ; to the westward it becomes hilly, trend- 



