Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 1.djvu/188

 128 SURVEY OF TIlE INTER'ROPICAL ss. not the season for fruit, we only procured some J,.e shaddocks, a few bad oranges, and some indif- ferent limes. At the Chinese shops we procured rice, sugar-candy and coffee, but all these articles were dear, and of very inferior quality: this supply was, however, very acceptable to us; and, had we not afterwards discovered that every thing could have been procured at half the price, .we should have been well satisfied with our bargains. 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 repr 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 mer- chants, who are plentifully distributed over the town, and form the greater propo .rtion of its popu- lation*. Its imports are very trifling, for the Batarian government annually supplies the es- tablishment of Coepang with all. its wants. The port-charges of twenty dollars for every one hundred tons burden are so exorbitant, that age round the world, estimates the inhabitants of Coepang at 1500, of which 1000 are slaves, and 300 Chinese.
 * M. Arago, in his account of Captain de Freycinefs late voy-

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