ual
civil disturbances.

NAVIGATION.

They are expert and bold navigators, and employ a variety of vessels
according to the voyages they have occasion to undertake, and the
purposes either of commerce or war for which they design them. The river
is covered with a number of small fishing vessels which go to sea with
the morning breeze and return in the afternoon with the sea-wind, full
laden. These are named koleh, are raised about two streaks on a sampan
bottom, have one mast and an upright or square sail, but long in
proportion to its breadth, which rolls up. These sometimes make their
appearance so far to the southward as Bencoolen. The banting is a trading
vessel, of a larger class, having two masts, with upright sails like the
former, rising at the stem and stern, and somewhat resembling a Chinese
junk, excepting in its size. They have also very long narrow boats, with
two masts, and double or single outriggers, called balabang and jalor.
These are chiefly used as war-boats, mount guns of the size of swivels,
and carry a number of men. For representations of various kinds of
vessels employed by these eastern people the reader is referred to the
plates in Captain Forrest's two voyages.

COIN.

They have a small thin adulterated gold coin, rudely stamped with Arabic
characters, called mas or massiah. Its current value is said to be about
fifteen, and its intrinsic about twelve pence, or five Madras fanams.
Eighty of these are equal to the bangkal, of which twenty make a katti.
The tail, here an imaginary valuation, is one-fifth of the bang-kal, and
equal to sixteen mas. The small leaden money, called pitis or cash, is
likewise struck here for the service of the bazaar; but neither these nor
the former afford any convenience to the foreign trader. Dollars and
rupees pass current, and most other species of coin are taken at a
valuation; but payments are commonly made in gold dust, and for that
purpose everyone is provided with small scales or steelyards, called
daching. They carry their gold about them, wrapped in small pieces of
bladder (or rather the integument of the heart), and often make purchases
to so small an amount as to employ grains of padi or other seeds for
weights.

GOVERNMENT.

The monarchy is hereditary, and is more or less absolute in proportion to
the talents of the reigning prince; no other bounds being set to his
authority than the counterbalance or check it meets with from the power
of the