156 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[February, 
treacherous, cruel, and vindictive as he is — fierce and unrelenting 
as the tiger of his own mountains, by w^hich he is often destroyed, 
— is still a being entitled to the sympathy and compassion of the 
civilized world ; and we cannot but pity his condition, even when 
his vices demand a measure of punishment at our hands. How 
black and damning would be the page containing an account of- 
his wrongs from boasted Christians, since the year 1510, when 
Albuquerque landed on his shores. For three centuries, what 
has been the history of Europeans trading on his coast, under 
the direction of heartless, grasping monopolies, but a record of 
oppressions, cruel exactions, and abominable injustice! To the 
honour of the British name, though her track in the east has, in 
all directions, been stained with blood, she has ever shown more 
humanity than either of her former powerful competitors ; whose 
every thought, impulse, and action, appear to have been concen- 
trated in one festering canker — insatiable avarice ! 
But we leave this picture to be resumed in another place ; and 
from the leafy groves, jich plains, and varied productions, shall 
attempt a more close analysis of the Malay himself ; and trust 
that the reader will find something to repay him for his trouble 
in turning our pages. 
