The interior of the island is very mountainous, but most of the mountains abound in mines of gold, silver, lead, and other metals.  The company possesses some mines of gold, said to be very rich, and great care is taken to secure and conceal the profits.  Gold-dust is found in great quantities in all the rivers and rivulets of the country, especially when the western monsoon reigns, when the torrents roll down from the mountains with great rapidity.  Abundance of copper is also found here, of which they make very good cannon.  There are likewise found several sorts of precious stones.  There is a burning mountain on the island, which continually throws forth flame and smoke, like Etna in Sicily; and there is said to be a fountain of balsam, or petroleum.  This island abounds also in spice and silk; but the air is not very wholesome, especially to strangers, owing to the great numbers of rivers, standing waters, and thick forests, which every where abound.  It produces no wheat, nor any other of the grains which grow in Europe; but has plenty of rice, millet, and fruits, which afford good and sufficient nourishment for the inhabitants.  It produces also, in great abundance, honey, bees-wax, ginger, camphor, cassia, pepper, and many Other valuable articles.  It is of great extent, being 310 leagues long from N.W. to S.E. and about 50 leagues across at an average.  The greatest sovereign in the island is the king of Acheen, Atcheen, or Achem, who resides in a city of that name at the N.W. end of the island.  It was formerly always governed by a woman, and it is not above forty years ago since the government fell into the hands of a man, since which several attempts have been made to restore the old constitution.  Acheen is a free port, to which the English, Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese resort, and in short all the trading nations of Europe and Asia.  The goods brought there are rich brocades, silks of all kinds, muslins of all sorts, raw silk, fish, butter, oil, and ammunition, for which the payments are mostly made in gold, the great commodity of the country, and remarkably fine.

During the western monsoon, the rains fall here with prodigious violence, attended with terrible storms of thunder and lightning, and frequent earthquakes; but the people, being used to them, are not much alarmed.  The nations are, generally speaking, Mahometans, and are very expert in making all sorts of plate and ornaments in gold, with very few tools, yet with such inimitable dexterity, that their workmanship sells at a high rate all over India.  The company sends a great number of slaves to this island every year to work in their gold-mines; but the kings in that part of the country are seldom on good terms with the Dutch, with whom they often quarrel.  The principal places where gold is found are Trion and Manicabo, and the way in which they procure the gold is as follows:—­They dig trenches at the bottoms of the hills, so as to intercept the torrents which roll rapidly down their