128 SURVEY OF TIlE INTER'?ROPICAL ?s?s. not the season for fruit, we only procured some J,.e shaddocks, a few bad oranges, and some indif- ferent limes. At the Chinese shops we procured rice, sugar-candy and coffee, but all these articles were dear, and of very inferior quality: this supply was, however, very acceptable to us; and, had we not afterwards discovered that every thing could have been procured at half the price, .we should have been well satisfied with our bargains. A fleet of Malay proas were lying at anchor in the bay, and two small trading vessels were in the river, one of which was undergoing a rep?r that was very creditable to the shipwrights of this place. The only exports that the island produces are bees-wax, honey and sandal-wood; these are purchased and exported by the Chinese mer- chants, who are plentifully distributed over the town, and form the greater propo .rtion of its popu- lation*. Its imports are very trifling, for the Batarian government annually supplies the es- tablishment of Coepang with all. its wants. The port-charges of twenty dollars for every one hundred tons burden are so exorbitant, that
- M. Arago, in his account of Captain de Freycinefs late voy-
age round the world, estimates the inhabitants of Coepang at 1500, of which 1000 are slaves, and 300 Chinese.
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