BARRETTO DE RESENDE’S ACCOUNT OF MALACCA, 5 
very good fruit of many kinds, besides all those to be found in 
Tndia, and it is remarkable that the town, though nearly below the 
line, has a salubrious climate’ and excellent water, the soil being 
fertile for any seed that is sown: it rains nearly every day and 
night. The married men of Malacca possess many leagues of land, 
extending on one side as far as Cape Rachado and on the other to 
River Fermozo”™ and also many leagues in the interior, but all 
uninhabited with none to cultivate the land, though it is fertile and 
would yield much rice. Inland the land borders on that of the 
Manameabos, ” Moors of a land called Rindo, ® vassals of the King 
of Pam, and, close by live five or six thousand of the same 
Manameabo Moors, vassals of His Majesty, under the Government 
of a Portuguese married man of Malacca called Tamungam,”™ an 
office conferred by the Viceroy. To him they owe obedience and 
should one of these Moors die without heirs, the said Tamungam 
inherits his property, and if there are heirs he makes an agreement 
with them and receives ten per cent upon such goods as he thinks 
fit. At the present day a Portuguese holds the office for life. 
These Moors cultivate extensive lands by which they maintain 
themselves. They especially cultivate the betre.*" They purchase 
tin’ from the inhabitants of the interior and bring it to Malacca. 
The river of this city, and the port of Malacca is of fresh water and 
is a stone’s throw in width. At low tide the bar has a palm and 
a half of water, and in conjunction with the fresh water there is 
four fingers of water only, which barely covers the mud which 
forms the bottom. At high water there is one fathom four palms 
of fresh water and five or six palms of salt. At a little distance 
from its mouth the river becomes narrower, and is three or four 
fathoms deep; and in some parts there is always one fathom 
whether at high or low tide. There are many large carnivorous 
alligators, for which reason, and because of the mud, it cannot be 
forded. Along the river and inland there are many orchards 
belonging both to the married Portuguese and the natives: the men 
live here with their families cultivating the land to great profit. 
There are many tigers” which before they were exorcised by a 
bishop were very fierce, but are now less so. All these married 
men have their weapons. Half a league up the river a log of wood 
is thrown across the water at night, the chain being padlocked to 
a sentry-box where stands a Portuguese provided by the city, which 
pays him six cruzados” a month. This is to prevent any forbidden 
merchandise being smuggled out or in from the large vessels lying 
at anchor beyond the Ilha das Naos. For the same reason, order 
has been given to build a fort on the said-island, which does not 
actually face the city, but lies a little lower down at a distance of 
one thousand five hundred paces from it. The channel in between 
is small and not navigable to large ships at low tide: the 
water is very shallow, and the bottom is of mud. Further out to 
sea, lies another sand-bank, and, between it and the island, is a 
channel six fathoms deep. The island is nearly the shape of a 
RwA; Soc., No. 60, £911. 
folio 384. 
