Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/455

ARTICLES OF EXPORTATION. 439 Bengal we find the same produce quoted at 45 rupees per maund, or an advance of 36^ per cent. Animal flesh, among the Indian islanders, is never, as with us, pickled, but, for presei'vation, is dried in the sun, with the assistance of a very small proportion of salt. Under the native name of den- de?ig, the muscle of the ox, the buffalo, the deer, and wild hog, are thus prepared, and the three first form an article of considerable domestic consump- tion, while all are exported by the junks to China. The best dendeng may be had at the rate of six Spanish dollars the picul, 2^,d. per pound. Thejisheries of the Indian Islands afford a most valuable branch of their industry. Both sea and river fish abound, but the first are the most abun- dant and valuable. The waters which surround these islands are so tranquil, and the numerous banks which exist afford the living animals which inhabit them such abundance of food, that no part of the world abounds more in fine fish. The seas of the western parts of the Archipelago, particu- larly the Straits of Malacca, and the shores of the Gulf of Siam, are the most remarkable for their abundance of edible fish. * Towards the eastern j)arts of the Archipelago, where the coasts are • " Their seas," (the Straits of Malacca^) says Hamilton, ♦' produce the finest fish that ever I saw or tasted." — New Account of the East Indies, Vol. II. p. 156.