212 COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 



Tlie town has now lost whatever greatness it possessed. 

 Although it is said to have 12,000 inhabitants, the trade 

 is of no importance, the surrounding territory infertile, and 

 the situation unhealthy. The coftee cultivation has been 

 more or less abandoned, and earthquakes have partially 

 destroyed some of the buildings and given an air of 

 desolation to the town. 



Palembang differs greatly from Benkulen, being the 

 seat of a vast and increasing trade. The town lies about 

 45 miles up the Sungsang or Palembang river, and 

 is one of the largest and most curious in the whole 

 archipelago. It is accessible at all times to vessels of the 

 heaviest burden, the width of the stream at the town 

 being about three-quarters of a mile, and its depth five 

 or six fathoms close to the shore. The town lines both 

 banks of the stream for a distance of 6 miles, and large 

 numbers of the population inhabit the praus and rakits 

 anchored in the river, much as the floating population of 

 Canton and other Chinese cities, so that all marketing 

 and general business is carried on by water. A Eesident 

 and other officials reside here, and with various merchants 

 number altogether about 100 Europeans. The entire 

 population is estimated at from forty to fifty thousand, 

 and, in spite of the surrounding marshes, the climate is 

 considered so healthy that convalescent soldiers are sent 

 here from Bangka. A small garrison is stationed here, 

 and there is a kraton, or fort, of substantial construction, 

 capable of containing 1500 men, with walls 8 feet 

 thick and 50 feet high, and mounting eight guns on 

 each of the bastions at the four corners. The export 

 trade has already been alluded to. Owing to its numerous 

 affluents, the river taps a vast area, and it is said that a 

 hundred or more praus laden with produce often arrive 

 from up country in the course of a single day. 



