fect cylinder-depth 4.35 inches, diameter 4:35 inches; the weight of the parrah measure, according to the custom-house account is, for coffee, from 50 to 35 lbs.; pepper, 27 to 30 lbs.; salt 52 to 55 lbs.; paddy (unhusked rice) 30 to 33 lbs.; rice 42 to 46 lbs. the candy or bahar 500 lbs. avoirdupois, or 461 lbs. Dutch troy weight. = = 1 KANDIAN MEASURE OF SURFACE.-8 lahas coornie (101 square perches) 10 = 1 peyla (2 square roods, 29 square perches) 4 1 ammonam (2 acres, 2 square roods, 374 square perches). But although the average extent of 1 ammonam is found to be 2 acres, 2 roods, and 2 perches; the measurement of land is not calculated from the specific area, but from the quantity of seed required to be sown on it, and consequently according to its fertility. Weights of ounces, pounds, &c. are used also throughout the island, British standard. The bale of cinnamon consists of nearly 92 lbs. LIQUID MEASURE.-Gallons and their multiples and sub-multiples: 150 gallon = 1 leaguer or legger. Monetary System.-The circulation of late is pounds, shillings, and pence, as in England, and accounts are becoming more generally kept in the same: the rixdollar is equal to 1s. 6d.—it is divided into 12 fanams (a thick copper coin) and each fanam into 4 pice. There is a government bank at Colombo, but I can obtain no returns of its circulation or deposits; notes are issued by government, but no annual returns are published of the amount, nor is there any information within the reach of the Colonial MONETARY SYSTEM. 121 Office in Downing Street, as to the real state of the paper and metallic clrculation in the island. It is proposed to establish a private bank at Colombo, of which indeed the island stands much in need; saving banks are now in full operation. It may readily be imagined how valuable the trade of this island may become under a freedom from restriction within, and justice in England on its products. At present, its most valuable articles, sugar, coffee, tobacco, pepper, &c. labour under the same disadvantages in the English markets as those of India. The Cingalese might make cotton cloth enough for their own consumption, but our present system of colonial legislation compels them to receive the steam wrought manufactures of Manchester and Glasgow at five per cent. ad valorem duty. While we put a duty on their sugar, when imported into England of one hundred and fifty per cent. On their coffee, three hundred per cent. On their pepper, four hundred per cent. On their arrack one thousand (!) &c. &c. Is this justice? In fine, this rich and beautiful isle of spices-so thinly populated yet so capable of supporting twenty times its present population, so impoverished yet so bountifully blessed by nature with every thing which can conduce to the happiness of man,-so admirably situate at the extremity of the Asiatic Peninsula, from which it is separated yet connected,—and so well adapted as an entrepôt for eastern commerce, requires only to be seen to be appreciated. I have visited every quarter of the globe-but have seen no place so lovely-romantic-so admirably situatewhether as regards the poet, the painter, the mer chant, or the statesman, as Ceylon ;- that its intrinsic worth may be appreciated in England is the author's fondest wish, not less on account of the fascinating spot to which these remarks have reference, than for the sake of England herself. A time will come (may the day be distant) when Great Britain will cease to hold her empire on the continent of India 1, and when the nations of Europe will contend for maritime superiority in the east ;—we have before us the examples of the Portugese and Dutch,-they neglected Ceylon; the one made it the cradle of idolatrous superstitions, the other the temple of trading cupidity. We are now in the fair course to shun both extremes; our missionaries (the pioneers of civilization) are extending the beatitude of the gospel among the dark, benighted heathen,-our merchants, freeing themselves from the pernicious shackles of monopolies, are making peaceful Commerce, as she ought to be, the companion of Religion; under both these influences Ceylon bids fair to be one of the most important colonies of the British empire. That to England may belong the glory of re-peopling, civilizing, and Christianizing this romantic isle, is earnestly hoped by one whose earliest travelling days were spent in exploring paths where no white man's foot before trod -and where the untutored savage and the destructive beast of the forest now dispute for pre-eminence. 1 It is on this account that I deem the insular possessions of Britain of such great importance; for instance, an extensive revolt throughout India, or its successful invasion by Russia, might annihilate our dominion on the continent, while our possession of Ceylon would remain unshaken, and thus enable us to preserve, at least, a portion of commerce. (See my Colonial Policy.) ( 123 ) BOOK II. PENANG, OR PRINCE OF WALES' ISLAND. CHAPTER I. PENANG, MALACCA, AND SINCAPORE. LOCALITY, AREA, PHYSICAL ASPECT, HISTORY, POPULATION, REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE, GOVERNMENT, COMMERCE, SOCIAL CONDITION, AND POLITICAL AND GENERAL ADVANTAGES, &c. THIS picturesque island (so well adapted for a commercial entrepôt) is situate on the west coast of the Malayan peninsula, in latitude from 5° 15′ to 5° 29′ north, and longitude 100° east; its greatest length is sixteen statute miles from north to south, and its greatest breadth twelve miles at the north, and decreasing to eight miles at the south, thus forming an irregular four sided shape, with a range of lofty hills in the centre, the whole computed to contain 160 124 PENANG. square miles. The valley of Penang', about three miles in breadth, is the level part of the island on its eastern side, extending from the hills to the sea, of a triangular shape, the ranges of mountains forming the base and the apex, called Tanjong, jutting into the harbour, and having George Town (the capital) and the Fort of Penang built on it, on which, for three miles in every direction from the point, private houses extend. Almost the whole of the northern shore is mountainous, and through the centre of the island runs a range of hills, decreasing in height and magnitude as they reach towards the south. On the west and south of the mountains there is a considerable quantity of level ground of good quality for every species of cultivation, as is now demonstrated by the general culture thereof. Indeed two-thirds of Penang is of level or gentle inclination. The east, owing to its moistness, is covered with rice fields; the south and west valleys, though partly cultivated for the same purpose, are chiefly laid out in pepper gardens and spice plantations. Every where close to the coast, as in Ceylon, runs an extensive belt of cocoanut trees, and scattered over the island in various groups appear groves of the graceful areca palm (or Penang) from which the isle takes its Malay name. The hills and low grounds, where not cultivated, are thickly covered with wood. Vegetation is splendidly luxuriant, and for miles and miles the eye rests on one dense mass of mountain forest. Besides George 1 Penang is the Malay term for the areca or betel nut, which the Malays think the isle bears some resemblance to in shape. |