folio 383d. 
4 BARRETTO DE RESENDE’S ACCOUNT OF MALACCA, 
There are in the town two hundred and fifty married whites * 
who would possess two thousand black captives of different races, 
all competent to carry arms, of which there is a sufficient supply ; 
as rarely is a married man without his supply of lances, and six, 
eight or ten muskets or flintlocks, with their aramunition. How- 
ever of these two hundred and fifty married white men, one hundred 
live on the other side of the river which gives its name to the land 
of Malacca. 
With regard to the small space within the walls it is almost 
entirely covered by three convents, that of St. Paul, St. Dominic 
and St. Augustin; and the aforesaid married couples live in straw 
huts, ‘ so that there is a great risk of fire. There are in this place 
a number of fruit gardens and orchards of varied fruits. A number 
of married native Christians live outside Malacca, they are all very 
good soldiers, and use all kinds of arms, especially muskets, in the 
use.of which they are very skilful. In times of war they are very 
ready and active: the majority of them seek a means of livelihood. 
They are so hasty, for very little they will run a man through the 
belly with a cris, and there is little, if any, cure for the | wound, 
since these weapons, apart from being generally poisoned, ° are so 
fashioned, in an undulating shape, as to cause great injury: if the 
weapon is poisoned, it is only necessary to draw blood to cause 
death. 
The fort within this town where the Captain resides is five 
stories high; the captain lives on the second storey, which is square 
like the tower, each wall being twenty paces wide. The other 
apartments are set apart for the Captain’s guests, and for storing 
ammunition. On the first floor four thousand candys” of rice were 
stored, but are no longer there. It is surrounded by a wall of the 
same height and thickness as that of the town. The Captain’s 
family lives in houses on a level with the second storey of the 
tower. The only artillery is that of the bastions already referred 
to. The town receives a duty of one per cent applicable to the 
works of fortification, of which those of the wall are now being 
completed. 
The king of the interior of that country where the fortress of 
Malacea is situated is the King of Jor’ and Pam, a great friend 
of the Portuguese. He is lord of more than one hundred leagues 
of coast, but his lands do not extend far inland: at sea he also 
possesses a chain of islands situated in this vicinity, the majority 
being inhabited. The people are Malays, and profess the creed 
of the Moors. They can put twelve thousand men cf arms into the 
field; they fight with artillery, muskets, assegays,’ saligas,° or 
darts of fire-hardened wood, swords, shields, bows and arrows, 
crises beforementioned, and sumpitans’ or very small poisoned 
arrows, which they blow through tubes, and if they draw blood 
death will ensue. There is no Christain Settlement in their lands. 
Up the river beyond Malacca, the married men own many very 
fertile orchards, with a great variety of fruit, as the land produces 
Jour. Straits Branch 
