Coromandel, it may well be styled the key to India: But Nature has, in a measure, contrasted these advantages by loading the island with almost every description of insect and reptile;-from the spider to the cobra capella, and the most horrific of all animals, -the boa-constrictor.

This island will, for many ages, be noted for a remarkable cruelty, exercised by a young Malabar, whom Talave had raised to the throne. The wife and children of Edeyboga, chief of the province of Saffragan, being in the Malabar's power, Edeyboga was summoned to appear at Candy in March 1814. The chief, not answering the summons, the Malabar caused his wife and four children to be carried into the market place. Three of them were murdered before the mother's face; the fourth was torn from her arms; its head was severed from its body with a sabre; and cast into the mortar, in which the unfortunate mother was herself compelled to pound it! After this unheard of act of ferocity, she was thrown, with her female attendants, into the neighbouring lake.

The Maldive islands deserve some notice, because the Madras System of Education' seems to have originated amongst them: but they have little beside to distinguish them from their neighbours.

"Pour apprendre à escrire à leurs enfans, ils ont des planches de bois faites exprès, bien polies et bien unies, et estendent dessus du sable fort menu et fort delie, puis avec un poinçon ils font les lettres, et les font imiter, effaçaus à mesure qu'ils ont escrit, n'usans point en cela de papier."-Pyrard de Laval (A.D. 1614).-From a passage in Thunberg (vol. iii. p. 124), it would seem, that this system was not unknown in some parts of Japan.

Batavia is as beautiful, as a mere plain can be rendered; but the climate being pestilential, and the water poisonous, it forms at once "a garden and a grave." A young man coming out of his ship, after a long voyage, was so enraptured with the general appearance of this settlement, that he exclaimed, 66 surely this is an abode for the immortals !" Three weeks after his arrival, however, he died!! The malignity of the Batavian climate has, however, of late years been considerably mitigated.

Java, of which Batavia forms a part, is remarkable for its variety of vegetation; indicating Nature, as it were, in her youngest beauty: and, unlike all other tropical islands, is abundant in water. It is, indeed, a magnificent island. The soil, in many parts, resembles the rich garden mould of Europe; and when exposed to inundation, bears one heavy and one light crop every year. From the tops of the mountains to the sea-shore it possesses six distinct climates, each of which furnishes an indigenous botany. There is not a plant upon the globe, that could not be cultivated in Java: and its indigenous fruits are equal to those of any continent. On the cliffs are edible swallows; and in the forests, peacocks, stags, and two distinct species of deer to which must, however, be added jackals, several species of the tiger, leopards, wild dogs, and the rhinoceros. This island was taken from the Dutch in 1811; and, under the able administration of Sir Thomas Raffles, raised in a short time to a greater

:

Stavorinus, vol. iii. p. 403, in Notis.

degree of prosperity, than any other colony in the Indian seas. Soon after the peace, it was redelivered to the Dutch authorities.

V.

Sumatra is an island, recently discovered to be rich. During an excursion into its interior, Sir Thomas Raffles found gold, cassia, and camphor. To his astonishment, also, he discovered it to be exceedingly populous; highly cultivated; and peopled with a fine athletic race of men. The country, too, was magnificent; being varied by rocks and mountains,' frequently covered with trees, even to their summits. Over this island, according to the natives of Molucca, the bird of Paradise floats in "aromatic air." Their flight extends over most of the Spice Islands; but New Guinea is their native land. When first seen, they seem as if they descend from heaven. They live on butterflies and nutmegs, and fly in the upper regions of the air. In a high wind, they croak like ravens ; and in their flight resemble starlings. At night, Sir Thomas and his lady slept covered with the leaves of trees. She was the sign of amity put forth, says the journalist; and, under the influence of her beauty, treaties of peace and commerce were concluded with the native princes.

Borneo has a brilliant sky, and a hot climate :its state of intellectual progress may be estimated, in some degree, by the following circumstance. Two

Six thousand feet in height.

Portuguese ambassadors1 being sent to the king of this country for the purpose of making a treaty of commerce, among other presents, they exhibited a piece of tapestry, representing the marriage of Catharine of Arragon with Henry VIII. of England. When the king saw these figures, he was alarmed; believing them to be real personages enchanted into the canvass, for the purpose of depriving him of his kingdom. The Portuguese explained the nature of this tapestry; but to on effect: the king ordered them immediately to depart as he had no inclination to see any other monarch in Borneo, than himself.

Bali has a soil and climate similar to those of Java, from which it is not far distant; and may, possibly, at some remote era, have been severed by an earthquake. Shut out from foreign commerce by the nature of its coast, the inhabitants have manners, customs, and habits, more original than either Java or Sumatra. To strangers they appear unceremonious, and even repulsive; but, on a more immediate intercourse, these rough manners are perceived, not to proceed from abstraction to their own concerns, but from an undisguised frankness of nature. The female character is said to have a beauty and a dignity, almost unknown in any other island, or continent, of the east. They have kindly affections; and are extremely partial to their relatives. The parents are mild in the exercise of their authority; and their children, as a natural consequence, are docile and affectionate.

Joao de Barros, 4th Decade, b. i. ch. 17; Trans., vol. iv. part i.

p. 107,

They are addicted to gambling, but inebriety and conjugal infidelity are unknown to them. They have a great respect for age and learning; and are free from the listless indolence of other eastern nations. But, even here, the tincture of a barbarous state exhibits itself; for, like the negroes of the Gold Coast of Guinea,' they use no milk; and the burning of widows is far from being unfrequent. They are divided into four casts; having much of the Hindoo, not only in religion but in manners. Some of them eat no animal food, except goats, ducks, and buffaloes ; others eat it generally. Rice is their principal sustenance; but the mountaineers live, almost entirely, on maize and sweet potatoes. They employ oxen for ploughing, and women reap; but they do no other office of husbandry. In 1816 the population was about eight hundred thousand. Some years since, the slave trade was carried on in this island: when all insolvent debtors, prisoners of war, thieves, and those who attempted to emigrate, for the purpose of eluding the laws, were sold to slavery.

VI.

In the island of Celebes, which is well watered, the climate is salubrious; it has one mountain, the Boutain, which is 8,500 feet above the level of the sea. The inhabitants procure subsistence without much exertion. Marriages are early; polygamy is allowed ; and women are held in more esteem than, in polygamous countries, they generally are. It is, indeed,

1 Bosman, p. 226, ed. 1721.

2 Crawford's Communication to Sir S. Raffles, Appendix, p. ccxxxix.