They
Have Plenty Of Birds Of The Same Kind With Those At Calicut, But The
Popinjays Or Parrots Are More Beautiful.
It produces sandal-wood and
tin; likewise elephants, horses, sheep, kine, _pardalles_ or leopards,
buffaloes, peacocks, and many other beasts and birds.
The country has
but few products of value, so that its only merchandise is spices and
silk. The people are of a blackish ash-colour, and are clothed like the
Mahometans of _Memphis_, otherwise called _Cayr_, _Alchayr_, or
_Babylon_, on the Nile. They have very large foreheads, round eyes, and
flat noses; and they are so much given to murder and robbery that it is
dangerous to go abroad in the night, for they kill one another like
dogs, and therefore merchants always remain on board their ships in the
night. The people are fierce, barbarous, and unruly, insomuch that they
will not submit to any governor, being altogether addicted to sedition
and rebellion, and they always threaten to quit the country when their
rulers endeavour to enforce order; which threat they are certainly able
to execute, as their country is upon the sea-coast.
[Footnote 90: It is obvious from the context, that this famous river of
Gaza refers to the Straits of Malacca. - E.]
[Footnote 91: The Taprobana of the ancients certainly was Ceylon.
Sumatra is about 977 statute miles in length, and 200 in its greatest
breadth, so that its circumference must exceed 2500 miles. - E.]
[Footnote 92: By Chini in the text is probably meant _Acheen_ in
Sumatra.
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