CHAPTER III. MALACCA AND MOUNT
OPHIR.
(JULY TO SEPTEMBER, 1854.)
BIRDS and most other kinds of animals being scarce at Singapore, I left it in
July for Malacca, where I spent more than two months in the interior, and made
an excursion to Mount Ophir. The old and picturesque town of Malacca is
crowded along the banks of the small river, and consists of narrow streets of
shops and dwelling houses, occupied by the descendants of the Portuguese, and
by Chinamen. In the suburbs are the houses of the English officials and of a few
Portuguese merchants, embedded in groves of palms and fruit-trees, whose
varied and beautiful foliage furnishes a pleasing relief to the eye, as well as most
grateful shade.
The old fort, the large Government House, and the ruins of a cathedral attest
the former wealth and importance of this place, which was once as much the
centre of Eastern trade as Singapore is now. The following description of it by
Linschott, who wrote two hundred and seventy years ago, strikingly exhibits the
change it has undergone:
"Malacca is inhabited by the Portuguese and by natives of the country, called
Malays. The Portuguese have here a fortress, as at Mozambique, and there is no
fortress in all the Indies, after those of Mozambique and Ormuz, where the
captains perform their duty better than in this one. This place is the market of all
India, of China, of the Moluccas, and of other islands around about—from all
which places, as well as from Banda, Java, Sumatra, Siam, Pegu, Bengal,
Coromandel, and India—arrive ships which come and go incessantly, charged
with an infinity of merchandises. There would be in this place a much greater
number of Portuguese if it were not for the inconvenience, and unhealthiness of
the air, which is hurtful not only to strangers, but also to natives of the country.
Thence it is that all who live in the country pay tribute of their health, suffering
from a certain disease, which makes them lose either their skin or their hair. And
those who escape consider it a miracle, which occasions many to leave the
country, while the ardent desire of gain induces others to risk their health, and