THE Ill STOUT AND PRESENT CONDITION OF .MALACCA. 749 
lars. Tin is considered a produce of the land and as such is liable 
to the payment of a tenth to the lords of the soil. The right of le¬ 
vying this is sold annually by public auction and last sale realized the 
sum abovementioned, having been only 3,000 dollars the year pre¬ 
vious. 
All the neighbouring states are more or less rich in tin. The beds 
of ancient streams, if such they be, appear to intersect the Peninsu¬ 
la in all directions. Pdrah and Kalantan yield large quantities of the 
ore and probably Johore would do the same, were the search and 
working duly encouraged there, but throughout the Malayan coun¬ 
tries the insecurity of life and property is so great as to preclude any¬ 
thing like a full developement of their mineral or indeed any other 
resources. 
Trade,—F allen indeed is Malacca from her once high estate, 
when she not only attracted, but commanded the whole trade, such 
as then existed, of these Eastern Seas. Yet with all the affluence 
poured into her harbour, and the immense influence which the pos¬ 
session of such a stronghold must have accorded to the Portuguese, 
there must have been something radically wrong in their system of 
rule to have Caused them to be so frequently attacked by the native 
powers in the Straits, and to be so often reduced to the last extre¬ 
mities. The Dutch as before observed, seem to have enjoyed a 
much more peaceable possession, but with both, and it would have 
been the same under any European government, the then prevalent 
system of a grasping monopoly tended of course to check the over¬ 
whelming advantages that would otherwise have attended on the 
sole and undisputed supremacy over these seas. About the middle 
and latter end of the last century, Malacca was sfill a place of great 
commercial importance, being the only European settlement in the 
Straits, and the sole depot for the produce of the Malayan states 
and islands, but towards the close of the century the establishment 
of Pinang drew off the trade to the northern end of the Straits, and 
thirty years afterwards the more favorable position of Singapore 
completed her commercial downfall. She is no longer a depot of 
trade, and her Imports are wholly confined to articles required for 
the consumption of the population. Returns of this, so called, trade 
continue to be published occasionally in conjunction with those of 
Singapore and Penang, but they seem to serve only to point the lin¬ 
ger of ridicule or pity at the contrast, as if Malacca was still striv¬ 
ing to obtain a share of the eastern trade and desired to magnify 
