O t h e r P rod
u c t io n s .
R iv e r o f
L ia n t .
fkins conftitute a great article o f commerce; fifty thoufand o f
them have annually feeen fent to Japan through the medium of
the Dutch. MandelJIo, a moft intelligent traveller, gives the following
account o f the trade of Siam, as it was in the year 1639;
fpeaking o f the city o f Jutbia, he fays, “ the principal com-
“ merce confifts in fluffs brought from Suratta and the coaft of
“ Coromandel, ail forts o f Chinefe commodities, precious ftones,
« gold, be'njamin, wax, copper, lead, indico, calamba-wood,
“ brazil-wood, fapphires, rubies, 8cc. but above all deer fkins,
“ whereof they furniih the JapaneJe with about fifty thoufand
n every year. It likewife yields a great trade o f rice, which
« they tranfport to all the neighboring ifles,” ■
T o this we may add the more modem account of the rich
productions of this kingdom, taken from Mr. Dafrymple’s Repertory
*. 1 The produdtions of this country are prodigious quan-
11 tities o f grain, cotton, benjamin, fandal, agualó, and fapan
“ woods; antimony, tin, lead, iron, load-ftones, gold and filver,
« fapphires, emeralds, agates, cryftál, marble, and tambanck.”
H o g s and wild fwine fwarm in the dominions of Siam ; moft
o f the favage beafts o f India are equally numerous in this kingdom.
Kcsmpfer fpeaks of two fpecies o f monkies, one very large,
and black, the other fmaller, and o f a grey color. - The firft
feems a kind not well afcertained, for the only black monkey o f
the old world we are acquainted with, is that defcribed by Mr.
Edwards, tab. 311, which is no larger than a cat.
A f t e r doubling cape Liant, a bay opens to the north, and at
the bottom receives the river o f Liant. A vaft chain of moun-
* P. 118.
tains
P O N T E A M A S . 49
tains which run from north to fouth, and unite with thofe of
China in Lat. 220 o', divide the kingdom o f Siam from the kingdoms
of Laos and Cambodia, and almbift reach the fea near the
river of Liant. The upper part o f this tracfl is in Laos, the more
fouthern forms the kingdom of Cambodia, which is compared to
a vaft valley, bounded by the Siamefe chain to the weft, and that
o f Cochin-China to the eaft. The coaft takes a fouth-eaftern di-
reition from the bay o f Liant as far as cape Cambodia, a fpace of
three hundred miles, ikirted by numbers o f fmall ifles waihed
by the bay of Siam. From the point o f Liant is a fandy barren
defert, reaching, according to Hamilton, as far as Ponteamas,
above two-thirds o f the coaft.
T h i s extenfive trait has great fcarcity of ports ; the moft dif- P o n t e a m a s .
tinguiihed is that o f Ponteamas, in Lat. 10” 4 5'. M. Le Poivre
gives fo enchanting a piiture of this colony, that I will no more
rifque injuring it by the abridgment, than I did his hiftory of
the Malay es. His defcrjptions are fo exquifite, that I muft hope
that they will not fall under a too frequent imputation on the
writers o f his lively nation, of being plus beau que la vérité.
“ Departing, fays M. Le Poivre, from the peninfula o f Ma-
“ lacca, and the iflands o f the Malais, towards the north, I fell
“ in with a fmall territory called Cancar, but known on the mai
l ritime charts under the name o f Pontbiamas. Surrounded by
h the kingdom of Siam, where delpotifm and depopulation go
11 hand in hand ; the dominions o f Camboya, where no idea of
11 eftabliihed government fubfifts ; and the territories of the
il Malais, whofe genius, perpetually agitated by their feudal laws,
•I can endure peace neither at home nor abroad ; this charming
V o l . III. H “ country,