44S Acheen. 



some armed with spears, others only with swords or creeses ; alto- 

 gether the whole turn-out was very shabby. 



" From what I was told it appears that the Sultan has no stand- 

 ing army, but when soldiers are required each chief (and their 

 name appears to be legion) brings his retainers ; the one pro- 

 ducing the most men taking the chief command ; the men are 

 generally a rather fine set, with a Malay cast of features ; they 

 appear to be very determined and independent, and look like 

 people who would fight well. 



" Besides the Malabar and Chinese merchants, there are a 

 good many men of other nations, such as Arabs, a few Nubians, 

 and an Eurasian of Burmese extraction. The Arabs are 

 generally the Moulvies, the others are nothing in particular. 

 The Sultan encourages people to settle in the place ; he clothes, 

 feeds, arms, and houses them, and gives them as many wives as 

 they like, but they have to embrace the Mahometan religion, and 

 all that is required of them in the form of work appears to be that 

 they take their turn as palace guards. They never get any 

 regular pay, and if they want money they must find means of 

 making or taking it. 



'^ In the bazaar, the shops are mere sheds, the floors raised on 

 posts a few feet from the ground ; the walls are composed of 

 mats, and the roofs of a palm leaf thatch. The " Merchants 

 HalP is a larger and more pretentious building j its floor may 

 be raised some twenty feet from the ground on posts, and its 

 walls are composed of planks instead of mats. I saw no houses 

 of a better kind though, doubtless, the chiefs have such inland. 

 The villages I visited were mere clusters of mat huts, thatched 

 with the everlasting dunny palm leaf; low mud walls often 

 enclosing groups of these huts. The Sultanas palace and grounds 

 were surrounded by ahigh wall composed, I think, of brick. The 

 Audience Hall was just inside an enormous gateway in this wall, 

 and we entered through a small wicket in the gate. The palace 

 itself was hidden from us by trees. 



" A market is held daily, except on Friday, the Mahomedan 

 Sunday, on an open piece of ground outside the town, from; 

 about 3 p. M., till dusk. Here fruit, vegetables, fish, eggs, grain, 

 knives, cloth, poultry, and cattle are sold. 



'^ Most of the things seem to be brought down the river to 

 the town in the most wonderful little canoes imaginable ; the 

 stream is excessively rapid, running perhaps eight miles an hour, 

 and down this come the little canoes, some ten or fifteen feet 

 in length, crammed to the brim, with not above two inches of 

 the gunwale above water, and guided by a single paddle. 



" Besides these, many other descriptions of boats are to be seen,. 



