A u r e a C h e r -
so n e su s ;
K in g d o m o f
J o h o r e .
S t r e ig h t s o f
S lNCAPOUR.
rapid river divides the town from the fort, one fide o f which is
waihed by the fea; in that part only four leagues diftant from the
low land o f Sumatra. Malacca is a true.emporium, or mart, the
great magazine o f the various rich articles of commerce brought
from the feveral countries I have mentioned. As to the peninfula
itfelf, it yields little more than the fine tin and elephants’ teeth.
Let me conclude, that this place was celebrated among the an-
tients for its gold, for which reafon it was called b y them Aurea
Cberfonefus; ftill, at no great diftance from the city of Malacca,
is a hill called the Golden Mount. Some imagine this to
have been the Ophir o f Solomon. I ihall mention, in vol. o f the.
Outlines of the Globe, the fuppofitiori that Ophir was a place
in 2Ethiopia. I will not enter into the difpute, and only fay,
that i f ‘the birds which we know at prefent by the name o f peacocks,
were thofe intended*, this, or fome other part o f Indict,
might have been the place from which Solomon drew his wealth,
peacocks being found in plenty here, and unknown, at leaft in
thofe days, in any part of Africa.
T o the fouth o f Malacca is the fmall kingdom o f Johore ; we
have.fcarce any acquaintance with it, and know little more of
its hiitory, than that it was governed by a brutal fet o f princes,
and that in 17.1a a rebellion arofe, which ended in the expulfion
o f the royal family.
T h e fouthern entrance into, the ftreights o f Malacca is filled
with a moll numerous archipelago o f fmall ifles, even to the
ihores of Sumatra. The land from Tanjong Buro, in Johore,
bends into a crefcent, likewife fijled with ifles. One is called Sin-
capour, which gives name to the well-known paflage for Ihips
v ' * I Kipgs, eh, x. verfe 22.
bound.
bound to or from the Eaft. There are feveral other channels between
the iflands, but that of Sincapour is the beft; yet all are
fubjedt to danger, by reafon o f the rapidity and irregularity o f
the tides, and the reefs or fand banks which are found in fome or
other o f thefe narrow paflages. The weftern horn o f the crefcent
is Cape Romano -, this Hands in Lat. 2° 12', and is the moil C a p e R o m a n o .
fouthern point o f the continent of AJia. A little to the weft of
that point, on a large river, ftands the city o f Johore, or Batufa-
bar, erroneoufly fuppofed by M. D'Anville to have been the fame
with the Zaba or Sabana emporium o f Ptolemy. The Cape Romano,
is certainly the Magnum Promontorium, or Maleeucolon, a
name borrowed from the antient Malayes. Romano feems to he
a traditional name, ufed in memory o f the nations which frequented
the adjacent port, where the ihips muft often have been
obliged to wait for the proper wind, to enable them to double
the great promontory, and purfue their voyage to the feveral
marts on each fide of the gulph o f Siam.
F or the tracing the remainder o f the coafts on the continent,
I ihall no more confult the opinion o f my able guide, M. D'Anville,
but follow that of a countryman, Mr. John Caverhill,-
who, in the lviith volume o f the Philofophical Tranfadtions, has
given a very able criticifm on thofe parts o f Ptolemy which
relate to thefe particular ihores..
A fter doubling the Cape Romano, the peninfula takes a
north north-weftern diredtion. Between Lat. 20 22', and Pulo Varela,
in Lat. 3° 20' is an extenfive group o f fmall ifles, which
fill the fea for a confiderable breadth, almoft to the very ihore;
the largeft is Pulo Pimon. In palling down the ftreights o f Ma- P u l o T im o n .
lacca,