58. Quintal. 
18 BARRETTO DE RESENDE’S ACCOUNT OF MALACCA. 
Godinho de Eredia gives this account of them: ~ Before the found- 
ing of the town of Malacca, the place was inhabited by Saletes, 
a race of fishermen, who settled themselves under the shade 
of the Malacca trees there. They used pointed javelins called 
Saligi and pursued fishes with such address that they could 
transfix fishes in the depths of the sea, and they used no other 
weapon. They were a wild, cannibal race.’ 
Most of the early travellers have interesting accounts of this extra- 
ordinary people. See the article “ orang-laut”’ in Crawfurd. 
Saletes is the Portuguese name for these people. It is a corruption 
of ‘orang selat,”’ selat being a Strait, and used then, as now, 
with particular reference to the Straits of Singapore. 
In the Metric system, a quintal (or cental) is one hundred kilograms, 
and according to Whitaker’s Almanack the equivalent of 1.968 
ewt. Inold tables of weights and measures, a quintal, or 
cental, Avoirdupois, is shewn as being a hundred pounds. 
The following is a table of weights: 
1 quintal — 4 arrabas 
1 arrabo = 32 arratels 
1 arratel = 9 marcos 
1 marco = 8 oncas. 
APPENDIX. 
A translation of Chapters I. and XV. of Gardinho de Eredia’s 
‘‘Declaracam de Malaca.” 
Regarding the City of Malacca. 
Malacea is a word which means Mirobolan or Monbain, the 
fruit of a tree which grows on the banks of the Aerlele, ( Ayer 
Leleh ), a stream which flows from the slopes of Bukit China to 
the sea, on the coast of Ujontana. It was on the banks of this 
stream, on the South East side, that Permicuri, the first monarch 
of the Malays, founded the town of Malacca, which to-day is so 
well-known throughout the world. 
It is situated in 2. 12’ of north latitude, in the torrid zone: 
and the longest day consists of 12 hours 6 minutes. Ptolemy 
makes no mention of Malacca, which is modern and was given to 
it by the monarch above mentioned, who founded the town, in the 
year 1411, in the time of Pope John XXIV. when King John II. 
reigned in Castille and King John I. in Portugal. 
Before the founding of Malacea, the Saletes, a tribe of fisher- 
men, congregated in this place, in the shade of the trees which bear 
the mirobolans. These fishermen used pointed javelins called 
‘soliques,” i.e. seligi, and threw them with such skill that they 
could transfix fishes at the bottom of the sea. They employed no 
other implements of fishing. They were inhabitants of the coast of 
Ujontana, in the southern sea, and a wild and cannibal race. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
