upland districts on the contrary are very productive, and
there the pepper is cultivated, which the king's agent (for trade in
these parts is usually monopolized by the sovereign power) purchases at a
cheap rate. In return he supplies the country people with opium, salt,
and piece-goods, forming the cargoes of large boats (some of them
sixty-six feet in length and seven in breadth, from a single tree) which
are towed against the stream. The goods intended for Passummah are
conveyed to a place called Muara Mulang, which is performed in fourteen
days, and from thence by land to the borders of that country is only one
day's journey. This being situated beyond the district where the pepper
flourishes their returns are chiefly made in pulas twine, raw silk in its
roughest state, and elephants' teeth. From Musi they send likewise
sulphur, alum, arsenic, and tobacco. Dragons-blood and gambir are also
the produce of the country.

ITS GOVERNMENT.

These interior parts are divided into provinces, each of which is
assigned as a fief or government to one of the royal family or of the
nobles, who commit the management to deputies and give themselves little
concern about the treatment of their subjects. The pangerans, who are the
descendants of the ancient princes of the country, experience much
oppression, and when compelled to make their appearance at court are
denied every mark of ceremonious distinction.

SETTLERS FROM JAVA.

The present rulers of the kingdom of Palembang and a great portion of the
inhabitants of the city originally came from the island of Java, in
consequence, as some suppose, of an early conquest by the sovereigns of
Majapahit; or, according to others, by those of Bantam, in more modern
times; and in proof of its subjection, either real or nominal, to the
latter, we find in the account of the first Dutch voyages, that "in 1596
a king of Bantam fell before Palembang, a rebel town of Sumatra, which he
was besieging."

ROYAL FAMILY.

The Dutch claim the honour of having placed on the throne the family of
the reigning sultan (1780), named Ratu Akhmet Bahar ed-din, whose eldest
son bears the title of Pangeran Ratu, answering to the RaJa muda of the
Malays. The power of the monarch is unlimited by any legal restriction,
but not keeping a regular body of troops in pay his orders are often
disregarded by the nobles. Although without any established revenue from
taxes or contributions, the profit arising from th