Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/163

 COMMERCE OF THE ARCHIPELAGO. 14-7 more particularly demanding the first, and more bulky commodities, with easier routes, admitting of the latter. On the great roads which lead from the port of Samarang, in Java, to the capitals of the native princes, through some of the most populous and improved parts of the island, five thousand iti-» nerant porters are constantly employed in the trans- port of merchandise. Droves of pack-horses and oxen are constantly to be seen on the same route. A great deal of the commercial as well as other in- tercourse of the Indian islanders is by water. The frequent rivers of their country, and the pacific sea which everywhere surrounds them, almost as safely navigated as those rivers, afford wonderful facilities to commerce. Notwithstanding the apparent similarity of the climate of the different islands, there is a prodigi- ous variety of production. The more improved tribes, and those inhabiting the most fertile soils, supply the less improved with food and clothing, and receive, in exchange, the peculiar productions of those countries, generally in a crude form, or nearly as they come from the hand of nature. The first description of merchandise may be enumerated as follow : Rice — a variety of pulses — vegetable oils — cotton wool — manufactured cotton — tobac- co — salt — sugar — and indigo. The second de-;. scription consists of gold — tin — ivory — catechu — Benjamin — dry-fish, &c. The necessities or luxu-