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 repair 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 merchants, who are plentifully distributed over the town, and form the greater proportion of its population.* Its imports are very trifling, for the Batavian government annually supplies the establishment of Coepang with all its wants.  The port-charges of twenty dollars for every one hundred tons burden are so exorbitant that no merchant vessels that have not some particular object in view, will visit this place; so that it has very little communication with other parts, excepting through the Chinese traders, who are constantly in motion.  In fact it is, to use the Resident’s own words in describing it to me, “a poor place,” and it seems to be the policy of the Dutch government to keep it so, for no vessel is allowed to trade with Coepang without having first visited either Batavia or Amboyna, for the purpose of procuring permission.

(Footnote.  M. Arago, in his account of Captain de Freycinet’s late voyage round the world, estimates the inhabitants of Coepang at 1500, of which 1000 are slaves, and 300 Chinese.)

The town is situated principally on the east bank of the river; which, rising in the mountains, runs through a torrent-worn course until it reaches the valley in which the town is built; here the tide meets it, and at low water its bed is nearly dry:  it communicates with the sea by a shoal bar immediately under a rocky eminence on which the Fort of Concordia is constructed.  This fort, from its favourable situation, protects the harbour and outer anchorage, as well as commands the town.

From the anchorage, Coepang presents a very picturesque and lively appearance.  The houses, a few of which are built of stone, are roofed either with red tiles or thatch, and are shaded from the heat of the sun by thick groves of trees; among which the breadfruit-tree, the Jaca, and a species of hibiscus, were observed.  The principal street, as is common in most Dutch towns, is shaded by an avenue of trees, which forms an agreeable walk, and is a great ornament to the place:  at the upper end of this street is the Company’s garden, but its ruinous state shows that it has long since ceased to be cultivated for the purpose for which it was originally intended.

From the crowds of people in the streets a stranger would imagine it to be a place of great trade, but the only employments of the inhabitants seem to be those of fishing, making straw hats and carrying water; the last occupation is principally performed by the women, who convey it in vessels made of the broad part of the leaf of the fan palm, each containing from two to three gallons.  At the door of every house was seen either a man or a woman plaiting straw hats, but this might only have been occasioned by our great demand for them, for we purchased all that could be made whilst we remained.