Chap* IL to the E A S 
River, in an open and well cultivated and champaign Coun- 
try, about a League from the Shore. The Benjamin of 
this I Hand is much efteemed, and ferves the Inhabitants for 
a Meafure in 'all their Bargains, for they have no other Mo- 
ney. This Place affords likewife Plenty of Camphire. 
The Camphire of Bataham is reckoned the beft, but there 
is very little of it. Pajfaman Hands at the Foot of a very 
high Mountain, that may be feen in a clear Day thirty 
Leagues off. It has excellent large Pepper, being the firft 
Place on this Coaft where we meet with Pepper-Plants. 
Seven Leagues from this Place Hands Ticow, which is yet 
more fertile in Pepper. Priaman has not fo much Pepper, 
but has a better Air, and very well peopled, and plentifully 
furnilhed with all forts of Provifions, and drives a great 
Gold Trade with the Inhabitants of Manimcabo. The 
Butch had a Fadlory there for a long time, but the laff 
Year the King of Achen expelled them. Padang has little 
Pepper, but deals pretty much in Gold, and has the Con- 
veniency of a fine River, where great Ships may come up 
and ride fafely. All thefe Places are well peopled and cul- 
tivated, and fome of the Inhabitants are rich, and live 
happy, by virtue of their Remotenefs from the tyrannical 
Court of Achen. 
40. The Inhabitants of Achen are a worfe fort of People 
than thofe of Ticow and Priaman , and the other Places 
along the CoaH ; they are proud, envious Men, of no Faith 
or Confcience, efpecially in their dealing with Chriffians, 
treacherous, and given to robbing and poifoning. They 
defpife their Neighbours, and take all other Nations but 
themfeives to be^brutal j they are very prodigal in their 
Cioaths, and would be the fame in their Houles, Slaves, 
and other things, if the King did not cramp them. They 
{peak well in their own Language, and fome of them fet 
up for Orators. They are very fond of Similes, and happy 
enough in applying them ; but the Frequency with which 
they ufe them would be naufeous and impertinent in any 
other Country. They compofe fome Poems and Songs, 
and apply themfeives to Writing, and the Arabian Arith- 
metick, which differs but little from ours. Some of them 
are very good Mechanicks, efpecially for the building of 
Gallies, and they make all forts of Iron-work as well as 
any where elfe, though they do not work with the fame 
Facility and Dexterity as the Europeans. They work very 
well in Copper and Wood, and fome of them are fkilled in 
caffing of Artillery. 
The King entertains three hundred Goldfmiths in his 
Caffle, befides a great many other Artifans. Since this 
King came to the Throne, the Subjects of Achen have got 
the Name of the beff Soldiers in India ; for they endure 
Fatigue wonderfully, and are excellent Pioneers, as ap- 
peared in the Sieges of £>ueda and Bely , the laff being a 
Place of great Strength, fortified by the Afiiffance and Con- 
trivance of the Portugueze , and defended by a Perfon of 
great Valour and Reputation, which neverthelefs the King 
of Achen took in fix Weeks Time by cutting Trenches, 
and gradually advancing them. They live very foberly, 
and for the moff part upon Rice, to which the richer fort 
may add a fmall Matter of Filh, and a few Herbs j and 
he muff be a great Lord indeed that in a Day’s Time eats 
a Hen boiled or broiled upon the Coals. It is a common 
faying among them, that if there were two thopfand Chri- 
ffians in that Country, all their Beef and Fowls would 
quickly be confumed. They pretend to be very ffridt Mo- 
hammedans^ but are great Hypocrites and Diffemblers, 
efpecially in their Refpedt to the King, whom they would 
fee hanged if they could. If they fufpe£t, though with- 
out Reafon, that any one does not love them, to prevent 
his being in a Capacity to mifreprefent them to the King, 
they’ll form an Accufation againff him before the King, 
and it is the Frequency of thefe Accufations that makes the 
King fo cruel *, forafmuch as it perfuades him that there 
are more Confpiracies againff him than there are. 
In fine, they are fuch a wicked fort of People, that 
it is a common thing among them for one Brother to ac- 
cufe another, or the Son the Father, and if you charge 
them with Inhumanity, and Want of Confcience, upon 
that Score, they’ll tell you that God is far from them ; 
but the King of Achen is near at hand. Purfuant to the 
4 
T-INDIES. 743 
Law of Mohammed , they marry as many Women as they 
are able to maintain, one of which is entitled to a Prefer- 
ence before the reft* her Children being reckoned the law- 
ful Heirs. They -fuffer their Slaves and Concubines to go 
abroad, but not their Wives ; if a Man marries a young 
Woman, he commonly pays fome Money for her to her 
Relations, and allots her a Jointure upon his own Eftate. 
If a Woman has any thing of her own, fhe lodges it in 
the Hands of her Hufband, and takes from him a Note, 
entitling her to the Recovery of it in cafe of Separation, or 
bad Hufbandry ; and if the Hufband dies firft, this Note, 
together with the jointure ftipulated in the Contradt of 
Marriage, muff be firft fatisfied out of the Goods of the 
deceafed, to the Prejudice of all Creditors ; if the Woman 
dies firft, the Hufband is entitled to all that fhe brought 
him. Man and Wife may feparate when they will, pro- 
vided they both agree to it j for the Confent of one Party 
is not fufficient. In Achen Ufury is prohibited, and the In- 
tereft of Money is limited to twelve per Cent . per Annum 
without Pledges, whereas in Bantam they will give five 
per Cent, a Month, and a Pawn befides. If the Debtor 
refufe to pay, he is cited before a Court of Juftice, where, 
if the Debt be made appear, he is condemned to pay it 
in a little time, and if he does not pay it in the appointed 
Time, he is cited a fecond time, and muft either pay it in 
Court, or elfe have his Hands tied behind his Back with 
a Wyth, in which Pofture he continues (for no body dare 
to untie him) and is obliged to appear before the Court 
every Day that it fits, till he fatisfies the Debt. At laft, if 
the Judge perceives that he appears every Day, and is not 
capable of fatisfying the Debt, he delivers him up to the 
Creditor to ferve him as a Slave, impowering the Creditor 
to carry him home, or fell him, or to do with him as he 
pleafes, fo as he does not put him to Death. 
This Court fits every Morning, except Friday , under a 
great Bali near the great Mofk, and one of the greatefl: 
and richeft Orankays prefides in it. Under another Bali, 
by the Caftle Gate, there fits the Criminal Court, in which 
feveral of the principal Orankays prefide by Turns. Under 
the Cognizance of this Court are all Quarrels, Murders, 
Robberies, (Ac. committed in the City. Any Criminal 
may be flopped, or taken up, by a Girl or Child of four 
or five Years of Age ; for whenever Hands are laid upon 
him, he dares not but Hand like a Statue, and fuffer his 
Hands to be tied, in order to be dragged before the Court, 
where Juftice is immediately put in Execution. I have feen 
great lazy Scoundrels dragged in that Falhion by little 
Children, and condemned to receive Laflies of a Wyth 
upon the Shoulders, for ftealing the Value of a Farthing. 
After the Execution is over, neither Criminal or Informer 
dare complain ; nay, fometimes they return together equally 
unconcerned. I faw a Man tried there for having peeped 
through a Hedge to fee his Neighbour’s Wife waffling her- 
felf, and condemned to receive thirty Laflies upon the 
Shoulders ; but after the Sentence was pronounced, the 
Criminal capitulated publickly with the Executioner, and 
after fome Words gave him twenty Maes in open Court, in 
Confideration of being only whipped above his Cioaths. 
It is a common Cuftom in that Place to bargain with the 
Executioner for mitigating the Punifhment ; for there’s 
never a Day but the King orders a Nofe, Eye, Ear, Hand, 
Foot, or Tefticle to be cut off from fome Body or other ; 
and upon thefe Occafions the Executioner gets Money for 
doing his Bufinefs faandfomely, and with little Pain ; for if 
the Criminal does not come up to his Price, and pay him 
in ready Money upon the Spot, he will cut the Nofe, for 
inftance, fo deep, that the Brain may be feen through the 
Wound, or mangle a Foot or a Leg in two or three Pieces, 
(Ac. In all thefe cruel Mutilations, and even Gelding itfelf, 
fcarce any one dies, though fome of the Perfons thus 
maimed are above fifty or fixty Years of Age ; and the 
only Remedy they ufe is, to put the wounded Part imme- 
diately into Water, apd after it has bled a little, wafti it 
and bind it up with Linnen Cloths. After a Criminal has 
thus fuffered Juftice, whether by the King’s Command, or 
by the Judge’s Sentence, all the Ignominy of his Crime 
is wiped off, and if any one upbraids him with it, he may 
kill him with Impunity, 
There 
< 
