138 
SURVEY OF THE INTERTROPICAL 
3 SIS. 
June 
5—13. 
Macassar, where the Chinese traders meet them 
and purchase their cargoes. At this time (1818) 
the value of the t repang was from forty to fifty 
dollars a picol ^ ; so that if each vessel returns 
with 100 picols of trepang, her cargo will be worth 
5000 dollars. Besides trepang, they trade in 
sharks’ fins and birds’ nests, the latter being 
worth about 3000 dollars the picol. 
Dramah informed me that there are several 
rivers upon the coast, but that in procuring water 
from them they are generally attacked by the 
“ Maregas ,” whom they describe as treacherous 
and hostile, and by whom they are frequently de- 
feated ; for the Indians attack them only when they 
are unprepared. Their small canoes are frequently 
stolen from them, which accounts for the one we 
captured from the natives of Goulburn Island. 
A perpetual warfare exists between them, so 
that it would be a difficult matter for us to procure 
a friendly communication with a people who 
cannot, of course, discriminate between us and 
the Malays. I regretted to hear this, for our force 
was so small that I feared we should, in our 
future visits to the coast, be frequently attacked, 
and perhaps be under the necessity of convincing 
* The value of the trepang, in 1822, was much less ; the price had 
fallen to twenty-five dollars the picol. 
