At Malacca, the country is for the most part low, the small hills of iron-shot clay being scarce an exception to this appearance. About a mile inland it is swampy and covered with wood. The soil is a thick and stiff clay, apparently very favourable for the cultivation of rice. There appears to be no want of water; yet with these advantages, the place does not raise rice for its own consumption. The Dutch, who largely expatiate on the capacity of the country, attribute this circumstance to the indolent habits of the Malayan race, who for the most part are cultivators of the soil on the shores of this peninsula. The cause more probably arises from the want of due encouragement to agriculture; from mismanagement; from unfavourable terms in the tenure of land; and in part perhaps from the existence of slavery amongst the Dutch. Wherever this, the true cause, exists, it operates forcibly to check the cultivation of the more valuable of the products of human industry, under circumstances highly favourable to its development. In vegetable products of less value, but that are reared with little labour or care, – as fruit, the place abounds. The Mangosteen is here found in the greatest perfection, a most delicious fruit, and justly the boast of the east. The Plantain, the Durian, the Champada, the Jack, &c., constitute a large proportion of the food of both natives and Dutch, who may be considered as naturalized to the climate, possessing similar tastes, and in some degree even the manners of the native inhabitants. But fruit, however delicious or abundant, when it constitutes the food of a people, must be considered as affording at the best but a wretched subsistence, inferior to even the worst of the Cerealia. For the existence of an abundant supply of excellent fish upon their coasts, the inhabitants are still more indebted, than for the produce of their fruit-trees.
On entering this place, we were forcibly struck with the contrast which it afforded, in point of commercial importance, with the very beautiful and interesting settlement at Prince of Wales’s Island. Here five or six vessels at the utmost lay scattered and straggling in an extensive bay. There hundreds of ships of all descriptions, sizes, and nations, were seen crowded together, the sure indication of maritime prosperity. In Malacca, every third house was shut up and appeared to be abandoned. The streets were solitary and deserted. A lonely inhabitant sauntering in his verandah, or idly lolling or smoking at his door, only served to render the scene more dreary, sad, and melancholy. Even the Chinese, of whom, however, but few now remain, seemed to have forsaken their habits of industry, and afforded the discordant spectacle of reluctant idleness. In Penang all was activity, and bustle, and zeal. The population of the two places will not bear a comparison. Yet Malacca possesses many advantages over the other settlement. In territorial extent, it is unrestricted. The climate is mild, equable, salubrious, and agreeable. Numerous tribes of Malays surround the settlement in every direction, who it is to be supposed might, if encouraged by proper management, be gradually brought to enter upon commercial speculations, and to increase agricultural produce, to the mutual advantage of both parties. The Dutch, however, it is to be feared, have still to learn how to reconcile the native powers to their system of government. A degree of suspicion and distrust is but too obvious in the intercourse they entertain with each other.
Here we had but little opportunity of observing the mode of living and manners of the Dutch people. In Malacca, as at the Cape, almost all private families take lodgers into their houses. We, during our short stay, resided at a house intermediate between an inn and a private house. We here saw but little of that neatness and cleanliness said to be inherent in Dutch people. A room, intended for dining in, and so forth, is kept in tolerable order. The bed-rooms are wretched, small, dirty, and ill-aired. The people generally appear to be very poor. Their mode of life mean; their food coarse and indifferent, except fish, which is excellent. Every necessary of life is extremely dear. A fowl costs about half-a-crown, and other articles are in proportion.
Every family possesses a large number of slaves, who are mostly employed in domestic affairs. There were upwards of thirty of different ages and sexes belonging to the family in which we resided. Their condition did not on the whole appear to be one of peculiar hardship. They, however, may be considered a wretched race, an appearance they derive chiefly from the want of clothing, and the existence of other marks of their mean and abject condition. Of the domestic slaves, however, some are decently and even richly clad. Their owners, in such cases, take a pride in dressing them even in costly ornaments, as of gold, silk, &c. A considerable portion of their property is often laid out in this way, and the slaves themselves are said to lay out their small gains, if such fall to their lot, in the purchase of such articles.
During our short stay at this place, we procured a considerable number of birds. They were chiefly brought for sale by the Malay inhabitants.
Landed on the island of Little Carimon. We had here another proof of the alteration of structure which the country had undergone. In this vicinity, the islands become extremely numerous, forming perhaps the most beautiful, as they do the most extensive, Archipelago in the world. Of these innumerable islands, many, like that under consideration, are of a hilly nature, but differ from those of primitive countries, by exhibiting rather a moderate elevation, rounded at top, and for the most part sloping gradually towards their base.
These numerous islands are as various in form, as in extent and elevation. Some are simple masses of bare rock, scarcely appearing above water; others extend several miles in length and breadth, often forming safe bays and extensive inlets. Some are flat throughout their whole extent, others consist of hilly masses only; of all it may be remarked, that wherever any soil exists, however scanty or however poor, and sometimes even where no soil is observable, they are not found, as might be expected, covered with a scanty, stunted, and impoverished vegetation; but everywhere planted with forests of the loftiest trees, forests in appearance scarce less ancient than the rugged soil on which they stand. The spectacle universally afforded among these islands, is in such respects equally beautiful, interesting, and curious. The singular form which many of the trees assume, is not the least remarkable feature in the varied phenomena displayed by the vegetable creation. I allude more particularly in the present instance to a remarkable and very obvious disposition in the roots and lower part of the stem of the larger trees, to form winged appendages of great magnitude. These tabular compressed appendages are generally three or four in number. They obviously serve as supports to the weighty incumbent mass of stem and leaves; thus compensating for the want of depth of soil, a few inches into which the roots can penetrate, before they are obstructed by the surface of rock, they are thus forced to extend horizontally. A tree of this description, torn up by its roots, affords a singular spectacle, and one in which the economy of vegetable life is peculiarly remarkable, inasmuch as this economy is obviously exerted in overcoming the difficulties which oppose its development. Every crevice in the rocky base, every chink, has been occupied by the root; a thin, but hardy net work extends along the ground, to a distance often equal to the noble altitude of the tree itself. The thin winged appendages to the tree, or its supporting walls, as they may justly be termed, partake more of the nature of root than of trunk, though altogether out of the earth. They possess generally a smooth, softish, and very thin cuticle, green underneath, abounding in the vegetable juices of the tree, and are remarkably hard. They sometimes extend horizontally, in a straight, but more commonly in a curved, direction, fifteen or twenty feet, their edges being six, eight, or more feet above the ground, gradually decreasing from the stem to the earth. In some instances they are formed into walls, resembling fortifications. Of this sort we saw a very fine specimen on this island.
We had now passed from granite mountains to rocks of the secondary formation, detecting but few of the connecting media which usually accompany these formations, and give indications of the proximity of either the one series or the other. At Malacca we observed extensive beds of iron-shot clay. Here we discovered the masses which compose these islands to be formed of a series of rocks of a different description. Though at first sight they seemed to be of very various structure, a more close inspection