8 6 INDIA BEYOND THE GANGES. 



said, the real masters and sovereigns of the whole peninsula, .being ia 

 possession of the capital (Malacca.) The inhabitants, in the internal 

 parts, differ little from brutes in their manner of living ; and yet the 

 Malayan language is reckoned the purest of any spoken in the Indies. 

 We are told by the latest travellers, that its chief produce is tin, pep- 

 per, elephant's teeth, canes, and gums. 



It has been supposed that it is the Golden Chersonesus, or peninsu- 

 la of the ancients. Its situation is certainly excellent for trade with 

 India ; so that when it was first discovered by the Portuguese, who 

 were afterwards expelled by the Dutch, Malacca was the richest city 

 in the east, next to Goa and Ormus, being the key of the China, the Ja- 

 pan, the Moluccas, and the Sunda trade. The country, however, at 

 present is chiefly valuable for its trade with the Chinese. This dege- 

 neracy of the Malayans, who were foi'merly an industrious, ingenious 

 people, is easily accounted for, by the tyranny of the Dutch, whose 

 interest it is that they should never recover from their present state 

 of ignorance and slavery. 



Malacca was taken from the Dutch by the English, in August, 

 1795, before which the latter used to carry on a smuggling kind of 

 trade in their country ships, from the coast of Coromandel and the 

 Bay of Bengal, to Malacca. This commerce was connived at by the 

 Dutch governor and council, who little regarded the orders of their 

 superiors, provided they could enrich themselves. 



The kingdom of Laos, or Lahos, formerly included that of Jan- 

 goma, or Jangomay ; but that is now subject to Ava : we know few 

 particulars of it that can be depended on. It is said to be immensely 

 populous, to abound in all the rich commodities as well as the gross 

 superstitions of the east, and to be divided into a number of petty 

 kingdoms, all of them holding of one sovereign, who, like his orien- 

 tal brethren, is absolutely despotic, and lives in inexpressible pomp 

 and magnificence : but is of the Lama religion, and often the slave of 

 his priests and ministers. 



Cambodia, or,CAMBOjA, is a country little known to the Europe- 

 ans ; but, according to the best information, its greatest length, from 

 north to south, is about four hundred English miles ; and its greatest 

 breadth, from west to east, about one hundred and fifty miles. This 

 kingdom has a spacious river running through it, the banks of which 

 are the only habitable parts of the country, on account of its sultry 

 air, and the pestiferous gnats, serpents, and other animals bred in the 

 woods. Its soil, commodities, trade, animals, and products, by sea 

 and land, are much the same with those of the other kingdoms of this 

 vast peninsula. The betel, a creeping plant of particular flavour, and, 

 as they say, an excellent remedy for all those diseases that are com- 

 mon to the inhabitants of the East Indies, is the highest luxury of the 

 Cambodians, from the king to the peasant; but it is very unpalatable 

 and disagreeable to the Europeans. The same barbarous magnifi- 

 cence, despotism of the king, and ignorance of the people, prevail 

 here as throughout the rest of the peninsula. 



Between Cambodia and Cochin-China, lies the little kingdom of 

 Siampa or Chiampa, the inhabitants of which trade with the Chinese, 

 and seem therefore to be somewhat more civilized than their neigh- 

 bours. The king resides at Fereni, the capital. 



Cochin-China, or the western China, is situated under the torrid 

 zone, and extends, according to some authors, about five hundred miles 

 in length j but it is much less extensive in its breadth from east to 



