299 ^ 



er ficjB proof, and wbereia they deposit their most 

 valuable property. 



The trade of Singyra is carried 00 principally 

 by junks, aiid die small native craft, which coa- 

 vey its produce either to Siam or Singapore. Its 

 exports consist chiefly in tin, iron, (of which 

 there are two mines), dried prawns, to the an- 

 nual amtmnt of 1.000 piculs, and a trifling quan- 

 tity of pepper* This laftt item has almost ceased 

 to form an article of commerce, owing to the ru.- , 

 iiious exactions of the governors of Singora, who 

 resorted to the system of connpuls;ory deliveries, 

 paying sometimes not even the fourth of the 

 market value of the spice- As a necessary conse- 

 quence the cultivation of it has become extreme- 

 ly hmited, and many of the former tlourishu^g 

 plantations are rapidly being exchanged for the 

 solitude and wildncss of the jungle. 



Singora being a tributary of Siam, of course 

 pays no duty to that government^ but it is tie- 

 rally expected that ves&;ek putting in tlierc, should 

 ni'dke a present to the governor of lijc place: the 

 person, who at present fills that office, is of Chi- 

 nese extraction. 



On the opposite side of the bay, about an hour's 

 sail from Singora, is a scattered Chinese hamlet, 

 called ICo-yeo, the inhabitants of whicii are engag- 

 ed in the manufacture of earthen pans, and in 

 different agricultural pursuits, 



trigore, the last town to the northward <4 the 

 Malayan Peninsula, lies in N, latitude 8. 16, and 

 was conquered by Rajah Api, the black king of 

 Siam, about A. D. 1603.* The city is ancient, but 



• Ftarii, ap. dot, cofl, yoj*. p 139* 



i 



