22 ADDRESS BY MR. KRUYT ON 



lead^ etc. Tlie land is adapted to nearly every kind of 

 tropical cultivation. In tlie animal kingdom are to be 

 found tlie rhinoceros, the tapir, the elephant, the tiger, the 

 bison, the wild bnll, apes, snakes, etc. Further, a rich 

 variety of birds, fish and splendid butterflies is to be 

 found. 



The climate is warm and damp, especially on the South, 

 but the nights are very cool. The dry weather of the 

 North-East monsoon prevails from the middle of October 

 to the middle of April, the wet weather of the South- West 

 monsoon during the rest of the year. 



The digging of a ship canal through the Isthmus of Krah 

 has been for some years the subject of enquiry and dis- 

 cussion, and was especially a favourite idea of the French. 

 The journey from Europe to Siam and China would thus be 

 shortened by 660 miles. The plan that is now in view of a 

 railway connection between Penang and Singgora is, on the 

 other hand, more in accordance with English ideas. 



The Malay Peninsula, long before Europeans came there_, 

 was, like many other countries in Eastern Asia and many 

 islands in the East Indian Archipelago, tributary to China 

 to a certain extent. In spite of the fact that its coasts and 

 harbours were from the earliest times visited by navigators 

 and traders, and subsequent to the voyages of discovery by 

 Europeans, more especially by Spaniards, Portuguese, 

 English and Dutch; in spite of the fact that it has 

 repeatedly been the scene of sanguinary conflicts between 

 these nations, as well as between Javanese, Malays, Siamese 

 and Achinese ; in spite of the fact that we Dutch for two 

 and a half centuries were in almost unbroken possession 

 of Malacca, and maintained trading relations with the 

 surrounding States of Selangor, Perak, Kedah, Johor, Junk 

 Ceylon, Patani, Tringganu and Kelantan, where we had 

 factories for shorter or longer periods — in spite of all this, 

 it remained till our own times pretty well a terra incognita. 



In his treatise on Malacca in 1795, the English Admiral 

 Mainwaring says: — "Malacca, although excellently situated 

 " and for more than 250 years in the hands of Europeans, 



