arge men-of-war prows:
there is also there the Rajah Endut, a Siak chief.

Matan is under an independent rajah, who was formerly styled Sultan
of Sukadana; but about seventeen years ago the Dutch burnt down his
city. At length, by some pecuniary aid received from the late Sultan of
Pontiana, he was enabled to reestablish his affairs as Rajah of Matan;
and, in consideration of this aid, entered into a treaty of alliance,
which stipulated, that on his daughter's marriage with the grandson
of the late, and son of the present. Sultan of Pontiana, he would
cede his kingdom and large diamond as a marriage-portion: the parties
yet remain single. Under the head mineralogy we have pointed out how
valuable a country this might become under better management. Iron,
gold, tin, and diamonds abound here; also much wax, pepper, rattans,
garu, and about two piculs of the finest birds'-nests, which sell at
twenty-eight dollars the catty at Pontiana. Most of the trade finds
its way to Pontiana, Benjar, or Java, in prows. The population is
about ten thousand Dayers, &c.

Sukadana, once the most celebrated city on Borneo, as the name implies,
a terrestrial paradise, the capital of a kingdom and a great mart of
trade, since burnt down and destroyed by the Dutch, exhibits nothing
but ruins. There still remain numberless delicious fruit-trees, and
a country still susceptible of general cultivation, being yet clear
of jungle and morass. It is utterly abandoned: that it has not been
rebuilt is owing to the Rajah of Pontiana, at whose suggestion it was
destroyed, and whose interest it was to keep it down, having himself
risen upon its ashes.

There are no towns of any importance between Matan and Pontiana. The
rise of this dynasty of sultans has been noted in another place; it
is, however, almost the only power that has been expressly raised,
supported, and that still exists, by commerce. It is situated in
latitude 4 deg. north of the equator. The river has two mouths to it; the
northern mouth is the deepest, the most direct, and of the greatest
breadth; there are in this branch only two reaches up to the town. The
city is no more than fifteen miles from the mouth of the rivers; its
site is on the junction of the Matan and Landa rivers. About two-thirds
of the way up it is fortified; first, with a battery on piles in the
center of the stream, mounting five guns; on the left bank is another
with wooden pales, mounting likewise five guns; on th