Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 310

106
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JULY, 1931
• Bowrey (op. cit., p. 246) differs from the writer, for he says: "Provisions here are not very plenty, being not over well stocked with cattle nor fowle."
6 See Bowrey, op. cit., loc. cit. and note 11 for confirmation.
6 Bowrey, op. cit., p. 247, again differs from the writer: "The best, and indeede all the fruit this country affordeth is coconutt, plantan, sam cau (shaddock] and betelee areca." At Kedah Bowrey found both mangosteens and durians plentiful and he describes those fruits fully (p. 278).
7 Bowrey (op. cit., p. 236) remarks: “The inhabitants up in the country are natural Syamers. The "black Christians" would be Portuguese half-castes, generally known at the time as Mestizos (port. mestiço, mongrel). 8 This is incorrect. The Island was governed by emissaries from Siam.
See Bowrey, op. cit., pp. 237-8, for the Saleeters (Cellates). or Malay pirates, who preyed upon Junkceylon.
10 There are references in the Fort St. George Consultations to the careening of ships at Junkceylon, e.g., in September 1710 two French ships" careened and cleaned "there.
11 Bowrey, op. cit., p. 240, also remarks: "Tinne they have in abundance, and were they industrious might have tenne times soe much."
11 Here has been added a note in a different hand: "Th[ely offten dig the[i]r mimes 10 foth; and when they have a shoure of raine or two in a day, then they geet the most tinn. But when the raines are wholley seet in then th[ely leave of their diging and goas to the[i]r varges [? villages)."
13 Here again Bowrey (op. cit., p. 246) differs from the writer: "They have an excellent sort of rice here, but scarcely enough to subsist with the whole yeare."
14 Cowries were the chief article of export of the Maldive Islands in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.
15 Toddy, the fermented sap of the taş or palmyra, though it is also extracted from the date and coco palms. For arrack see note on p. 31.
16 Goa arrack was in high estimation at this period,
17 The Piper betel and the Areca catechu are here confused. It is the leaf of the former which is chewed with the seed (or nut) of the latter. See note on p. 64.
18 Bowrey, op. cit., p. 248, speaks of the wild elephants in the woods of Junkceylon, but says (p. 240) that very few " are hence transported, by reason the duty laid upon them is very great, near Boe much as the elephant doth cost." It seems therefore that the writer had not made himself acquainted with the customs duties of the Island.
19 Damar, resin used as pitch. See note on p. 64.
30 Rattans. The long stems of various species of Asiatic climbing palms, used for walking-sticks. See Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 8.0. Rattan.
31 Another term for rattans. 33 See note on p. 64.
13 This must refer to England, where several acts had been passed, from the time of James I onwards, to limit the rate of interest. In India it was much higher.
34 Pulo Condore, an island in the China Sea, south of Cochin China, where the New East India Company established a settlement c. 1700. In a rising of the Macassar soldiers, in March 1706, Allen Catchpole, head of the settlement, and most of the Europeans were massacred. See Diaries of Streynsam Master, II. 320, n. 2.
25 The writing is in the same hand as that of the two previous additional notes, already quoted.
36 Pulo Panjang lies to the east of Junkceylon and is somewhat smaller.
27 The writer of the additional notes is evidently illiterate, and in this case it is difteuh to understand him. He may be refexring to the island called Palo Lankava or Lankawi, which lies off the northern end of Kedah, south-east of Junkceylon.