370 STATE OF THE CURRENCY. 



rupees. We bad agreed with the sons of a Dutch 

 merchant, of the name of Ticlman, to supply us with 

 what we wanted, if we could procure the coin, and, 

 having got it, it took eight or ten persons to carry 

 our 38/. worth of copper to his house. The doits 

 were made up in bags of matting of various sizes, 

 corresponding to different suras of 25, 50, or 100 

 rupees, each of which bags was both weighed and 

 counted before it was taken. We got plenty of fowls 

 at 6 rupees, or 10s. per dozen ; pigs at 16s. each ; a 

 few goat-like sheep, some yams, greens, indifferent 

 oranges, and good shadocks, bananas, and cocoa- 

 nuts. We paid, however, for these much more than 

 the regular market prices, or than we could have got 

 them for, had we had the requisite cash, and could 

 have spoken Malay, and gone into the market and 

 neighbouring villages to bargain with the natives. 

 Pretty good buffalo beef and fresh vegetables were 

 procured for the ship's company. The small traders 

 of the town seemed to have an excellent turn for 

 roguery and imposition, as the prices of things were 

 often raised two or three times successively, and in 

 one instance doubled after the bargain was con- 

 cluded. Having settled this important affair, we 

 strolled round the environs of the town ; and among 

 other places, went into the church, a pretty spacious 

 brick edifice. Here we found a schoolmaster, who 

 spoke English, and who was teaching two classes of 

 children, the one European, chiefly Dutch, the other 

 Malay. Most of the children of European extrac- 



