P a h a n g .
G o l d .
lacca, as far as Cape Romano, navigators are obliged to take an
eaftern courfe*. This proves how well Ptolemy was informed
when he faid, that the Roman ihips bound for Çattigara took
that direction, but afterwards, when they had doubled the Cape,
they (being hurried eafterly by the tide, which ruihes through
the freights o f Sincapour) were under the neceffity o f making
a tack, and proceeding wefterly, to reach the feveral ports they
might be bound for, in the Magnus Sinus.
Pahang port, and town, are in Lat. 3* 50', and in a moft fruitful
country. The mouth of the river has an ifland before it. The
north channel has,, at high water, the depth o f four fathoms, and
juft within the bar, good anchorage in fix. The eftuary is a mile
broad, but fo full of fand banks, that it is with great trouble a
yeffel ,of thirty tons can work up to the town, diftant twelve
miles from the fea. The river rifes far up the ¡country, waihes
the foot o f the hill of Malacca, and contains a vaft deal o f gold.
Hamilton vifited this country in 1719, and reports, that lumps
of five or fix ounces weight have been found. The divers
ufually defcend to the depth of three fathoms, but the greateft
lumps of the pretious metal are found in ten. Some years eight
hundred weight have been exported. Well may this country
have been fuppofed to have been another Ophir. Jofephus \
feems to have been right in fixing it here, i f his authority was
good for faying, that the antient name of this part o f India was
Sopbora, now the land o f gold, which comes fo very near to that
o f Ophir. Poifibly the word is the Malayan name for the pretious
metal. M. Le Poivre fays, that the inhabitants of Malacca
* Dampier’ s Voyage, ii. 5. + Lib. viii, c. ii*
and
and Sumatra call their gold mines ophirs, and Mr. Marfden *,
that in the latter ifland is a hill named Mount Ophir, poifibly
from its having been once rich in gold.
Much pepper is'cultivated on the fides o f the river; about P e p p e r .
three hundred tons have been fent to market, but had there
been a demand, three thoufand might be raifed in the fpace
o f five years. The beft canes in the world are faid to grow in
thefe parts.
Trangano or Tringoran, a fmall town a little to the north o f T r a n g a n o .
Pahang, is feated on a river near the fea, in which fmall ihips
may moor fecurely among the rocks. The town did confift o f
above a thoufand houfes, half of which are inhabited by Chinefe,
who traffic in Cotixjonks to Siam, Cambodia, and Tonquin. Trangano
is moft deliciouily feated amidft low hills, covered with the
eternal verdure o f undeciduous trees; lemons, oranges, mango- F r u i t s .
ftans, and all the fruits o f the Indies grow here in perfection;
and the vallies laugh with grain, pulfe, and fugar, but all
owing to the induftry o f the Cbinefe. The feudal Malayes are
too lazy to make the earth yield its increafe. Pepper is raifed in
great abundance, but the port is ihut up from October to March,
by a moft violent fea, driven in by the north-eaft monfoons. In
the ftill months, the fea is faid to afford the fineft o f fiffi. Ptolemy
places,either in the neighborhood of this town ox Pahang,
a place called Thagora.
L a t i t u d e 6° paifes over part of the group o f the Ridang R i d a n c I s l e s .
ifles, which lie not remote from the coaft. They are inhabited
by Malayan pirates, who feizeon any vefiels they can mailer, ef-
•V o ya g e to Sumatra, p. 8.
pecially