of the town and its vicinity, which consequently leaves the greater portion of the
country, either very thinly inhabited or a mere jungle. The population is a very
heterogeneous one, consisting of the following ingredients, 2784 Europeans and their
descendants; 10,589 Chinese and their descendants; 33,473 Malays; 6875 natives of
Hindustan and their descendants, and about 1000 natives of the islands of the
Archipelago. The remainder consist of a few Arabs, Siamese, and African negros.
In 1828, the population was estimated at no more than 28,000, so that in about
twenty years time it must have nearly doubled, if these figures be correct. The
land of Malacca, as to populousness, is at present, probably, not very different from
what it was when first seen by Europeans in the beginning of the 16th century.
De Barros thus describes it t—u Not only is the site of the city of Malacca maishy,
but so is the whole region to which it belongs, because from its vicinity to the
equiuoxial, the climate is hot, and the vegetation so rank, as to make it unhealthy,
and consequently ill-peopled. To such an extent does this go, that from the point
of Cingapura to Pulojambilam (Pulo-sambilan, the Nine isles), being the whole
length of the kingdom, and estimated at 90 leagues, there is no place of importance
save the city of Malacca. The shores of a few creeks only are inhabited by fishermen,
and inland there are a few hamlets; and what is more, some of the miserable inhabitants
sleep on the tops of the highest trees they can find, in order to escape from
the tigers, which can leap to prey upon them to the height of twenty palms (vinte
palmas). These animals are in such numbers that they even enter the city at night;
and since our own occupation of it, one night they leapt over a wooden fence, broke
a part of it, and carried off three slaves. Besides this, in the recesses of the great
forests there exist large and ferocious animals, which cause the land to be ill-peopled
and ill-cultivated.”—Decade 2, Book vi. Chapter 1.
The husbandry of Malacca consists chiefly in the growth of rice, the coco-palm, for
which the coast is well adapted, black pepper, and the indigenous fruits, particularly
the mangostin, durian, and shaddock, which are produced in perfection and abundance.
A little coffee has been grown, and the culture of cinnamon and the nutmeg have
been tried with some success.
In an industrial view, the only mineral products of the Malacca territory are gold
and tin. The gold is trifling in amount, not exceeding 1600 ounces; but the tin has
of late years become of importance, and along with that of the neighbouring countries
forms the staple export of the country. Mines of this metal, as elsewhere alluvial or
stream-works, were not opened until 1793, and even after that, were long neglected.
In 1847, the quantity produced was about 5000 cwts., and it is yearly increasing.
The chief miners are the Chinese, whose numbers are said to amount to between three
and four thousand. The whole quantity produced between Malacca and the Malay
states in its immediate neighbourhood, is stated not to be less than 1000 tons, and
all the Chinese employed in producing it are said to amount to 8000.
The trade of Malacca is, the greater part of it, with the neighbouring British settlements
of Penang and Singapore, and especially with the latter. In 1853, the imports
were valued at 248,3852., and the exports at 337,0581., the greater part of the last
consisting of tin. The port of Malacca is a mere roadstead, but variable winds and
calms only being felt, and the monsoons not reaching it, it is equivalent in safety to
an ordinary harbour. Small vessels lie within a mile of the shore, and large within
two; but there is little convenience in landing on a shallow and muddy shore. It
was’its advantageous geographical position which made Malacca, for so many ages,
and even under a rude Malay government, a considerable commercial emporium;
and such it would have continued to be, had its trade not been cut off at both ends
by the superior convenience of Penang and Singapore, but especially of the latter.
The extent of the commerce, which that position assured to it, is highly spoken of
by all the early Portuguese writers, and according to the measure of the 15th and
16th centuries, it was undoubtedly considerable, although it would make but a poor
figure in our times.
The revenue of Malacca is derived from the same sources as that oi the other
British, and generally of the Dutch, possessions in the Archipelago, namely, from
excise licenses for the vend of opium, spirits, wine, and the like. The only article in
which it differs consists in a seignorage of a tithe on all the tin that is smelted,—an
improving revenue, which produced in 1847 the net sum of 23402. As elsewhere,
the revenue is realised on the principle of farming, the farmers being always Chinese.
As at Penang and Singapore, no custom duties, or any other charge on ship or cargo
exists. In 1847, the total net revenue amounted to 19,2722., of which 34 272. consisted
of a tax on the rent of houses assessed for municipal purposes. This amounts
to a tax per capite of better than 8s., which is more than the rate paid in any part
of continental India, and chiefly ascribable to the Chinese, who, although the
minority in numbers, are the principal contributors. The expenditure is enormous
having amounted in the same year to no less than 51,7832 or 168 per cent, beyond
the receipts, a state of things calling loudly for reformation. I t must be stated
however that a very considerable portion of this expenditure is factitious and
extrinsic’ such as the expenses of convicts from continental India, the salary and
establishment of a non-resident governor, and a share of the charge of two war steamships
engaged in the protection of the general trade of India from piracy, these
items which have no business where they are, amount to near 12,0002. a-year. Besides
this the blunders of a former governor have fixed, in perpetuity on the reveuue of
Malacca, a charge of 10002. a-year. The fee-simple of the lands of Malacca had for
the most part been alienated by the Dutch government to private parties, on the
condition of exacting no more from the occupants than a tithe of the gross produce.
This, of course, reduced the virtual proprietors to the condition of mere lords of their
respective manors, receiving quit-rents, while it raised the occupants who were
irremoveable to that of copy-holders. Mr. Fullerton, the governor in question, a
man of sense and integrity, happened, however, to be an apostle of the once-cherished
l-yotwarrie fiscal system of Madras, and resolving that as, under that system, no one
should stand between the state and the cultivator, he bought up the tithes for more
than they were worth, and hence an inheritance to the Malacca treasury of the payment
for ever of a thousand a-year. This in itself inconsiderable circumstance, is
only adverted to as an example of the mischief which may flow from the adoption of
a false system, and an entire misunderstanding of the state of society in the country
for which this kind of legislation was adopted.
Under the Portuguese administration, according to the historian Faria y Sousa, the
net revenue paid into the Malacca exchequer, was no more than 70,000 crowns, which
I suppose would be about 14,0002.; but he adds that the perquisites of the Portuguese
officers amounted to 150,000, so that the whole revenue would, in this manner,
amount to no less than 44,0002. In 1779, when the Dutch had no competitors, and
no European war to internipt their trade, the Malacca revenue amounted to 26,6002.,
which, however, exceeded the expenditure by 51502. In 1807, in our own occupation,
and without any local¿rival, the revenue was only 39,4332. In 1831, all custom
duties having been abolished, it fell to 10,4002. As already stated, it had risen in
1847 to 19,2722., without any increase in the rate of old taxes, or any new taxes,
except the seignorage on tin. Thus, there was an improvement in sixteen years time
of 85 per cent., obviously arising from increased prosperity, and leaving, therefore,
no rational grounds for the lamentations that have been made of imagined decadence.
Meanwhile that trade of which it was once the sole emporium has been multiplied by
at least tenfold beyond what it ever was when it had a monopoly.
Malacca, with Penang and Singapore, form a small government, with a governor,
having under him at each settlement, a lieutenant-governor, under the name of a
resident counsellor. I t shares also with Singapore, a Queen’s court, being that of a
Recorder. A very moderate garrison suffices to maintain order in a community,
however heterogeneous, peaceable and docile.
The native history of Malacca is as usual full of obscurity. Two Malay manuscripts,
known by Arabic and Malay titles which signify “ the Crowns of all kings,”
that is, the reigns of all Malay kings, and their genealogies give the following
account of the foundation of the state. About the year 1160 of our time, a
certain chief of Palembang in Sumatra, with his followers, established themselves
in Singapura. Here he and his successors continued until 1252, when they were
expelled by an invasion of the Javanese of the kingdom of Majapait, and next year
established themselves at Malacca. The third prince, in succession to the fugitive
who founded this last place, ascended the throne in 1276, and was the first who
embraced the Mahometan religion. I t was the twelfth prince in descent from the
founder of Singapura, and the seventh from the founder of Malacca, that was driven
from his throne by the Portuguese in 1511. There is too much reason to believe
that the greater part of this story is a fabricatiorP of comparatively recent times, and,
indeed, there is sufficient internal evidence of its being so. I have never seen the
manuscripts in question myself, nor am I aware of any cotemporary that has. They
were first made known in the Introduction to a vocabulary printed at Batavia, in
1667, and abstracts of them were furnished by the Dutch historian, Valentyn, in 1726.
The manuscripts, however, are as usual anonymous and without dates. The
five princes who reigned in Singapore give an average duration for a reign of little
R