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Rh the river, which is fresh at a very little distance from its mouth. The principal part of the town is on the right bank, but there is a considerable number of houses on the left bank also, and a communication exists by means of a bamboo bridge.

The river rises from the mountains to the southward, at no great distance from the bay. Its banks for several miles are cultivated; and, viewed from the rising ground behind the town, they have a very picturesque appearance. The steep shelving sides, in which rice is chiefly grown, are formed into terraces, and well irrigated. At the bottom of the glen (as it may be called), the cocoa, the palmyra, the banana, the bead-fruit, the orange, and the lemon tree, flourish luxuriantly, and diffuse an air of happiness and plenty around the peaceful-looking habitations, which are strewed pretty thickly on both sides of the river.

It may appear almost incredible, that notwithstanding the length of time (upwards of 200 years) this place has been colonised, there is not a carriage road of any description, excepting one along the sea-shore, about a mile in length, leading to the villas of the Resident and Secretary. There are several bridle paths, which, not having received the smallest assistance from art, are very indifferent, and to those unaccustomed to them, exceeding irksome and fatiguing. During my short excursions into the country, I could not help reflecting, how different it would have appeared, had it been a tithe of the time under British sway.

As Coupang has lately been made a free port, it is