Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/169

COilMEIlCE OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. 153 scendants obtained the sovereignty, a policy in a good measure more enlarged and liberal has been occasionally pursued, and considerable freedom of commerce permitted. The consequences have al- ways, as might be reckoned upon, been most bene- ficial. Commerce has flourished, and such states have always risen to comparative opulence and grandeur, of which Malacca, Bantam, Achin, Pa- lembang, Pontianak, and Macassar, are examples. In these states commerce was of such consequence, that the management of it became a separate de- partment of the administration, and the officer pre- siding over it under the Persian name of Shah- handdry borrowed, perhaps, intermediatelyfrom the Telinga, was the highest and the most important functionary of the state.