Malay Pmimnla.] ORIENTAL COMMERCE. 



Coins and Weights. — Spanish dollars are the principal coin. All 

 goods are weighed by the Chiim dotehin,or wooden steelyards ; but English 

 scales and weights are in common use. The bahar is 424- lbs. avoirdupois. 



QUALLA MOORBA, about 18 miles to the S. of Queda, is a large 

 river, deep and rapid ; the water here is always fresh to the sea ; the heavy 

 surge, which breaks upon this shore during the S. W. monsoon, has, by op- 

 posing the current from the river, formed a dangerous sandbank, extending 

 :> miles out to sea, and on which there is only one fathom water. This 

 river is, however, convenient, on account of its situation in respect to 

 the tin mines. The annual produce here is about 1000 peculs ; this small 

 quantity is not, however, owing to the scarcity of ore, but to the want of 

 hands, and to the few people employed being badly paid. 



PRY RIVER is abreast the N. point of Pulo Pinang; it has a mud 

 bar, with 12 or 13 feet water on it in spring tides. The town is at the 

 entrance of the river. 



PULO TEECOOS, a rocky islet, off the N. E. point of Pulo Pinang. 



In Pulo Teecoos Bay, a settlement has recently been formed, and an 

 emporium established, which seems already to have attracted a considerable 

 trade in Malay productions. 



PRINCE OF WALES'S ISLAND. — This island, called by the 

 Malays Pulo Pinang, extends from latitude 5° 16' to 5° 30' N. ; it is of an 

 irregular four-sided figure, the N. side being the longest, and the S. the 

 shortest ; it is near 5 leagues in length, and 7 or 8 miles in breadth. The 

 N. W. end of the island is high uneven land ; and excepting the S. part, 

 and the E. side, where the town is built, and where there is a considerable 

 tract of low land cultivated contiguous to the sea, the rest of the island is all 

 high, and covered with trees. About 5 miles W. from the fort stands a 

 mountain, 2170 feet high, on which signals are displayed for ships approach- 

 ing the island. 



Prince of Wales's Island is separated from the Malay Peninsula by a 

 narrow strait about two miles broad, which forms the harbour, and affords 

 excellent anchorage for the largest ships : there is also an inner harbour, 

 where ships may receive every kind of repair that can be performed 

 without going into dock. The S. channel may be entered by ships drawing 

 under 18 feet water ; pilots having been lately stationed at Pulo Jarajah, 

 who come out on the proper signal, and carry the ships into the harbour. 



Port Cornwallis is built on the N.E. point of the island, and is in latitude 

 5° 24' N., and longitude 100° 21 E. ; it was originally badly constructed, 

 and large sums have been spent upon it without completing it. The sea has 



