he shape
of an apple. Its skin is thick and red, and when dried is an excellent
astringent. The kernels, if they may be so called, are like cloves of
garlic, of a most agreeable taste, but very cold. The _rambostan_ is
a fruit about the size of a walnut, with a tough skin beset with
capillaments,[3] and the pulp within is very savoury.

[Footnote 3: This uncommon word is explained by Johnson, as "small
threads or hairs growing in the middle of flowers, adorned with little
knobs."--Here it may be supposed to mean that the fruit is hairy.--E.]

There is a high mountain to the N.E. of Malacca, whence several rivers
descend, that of Malacca being one of them, and all these have small
quantities of gold in their channels. The inland inhabitants, called
_Monacaboes_, are a barbarous and savage people, whose chief delight
is in doing injury to their neighbours. On this account, the peasantry
about Malacca sow no grain, except in inclosures defended by thickset
prickly hedges or deep ditches: For, when the grain is ripe in the
open plains, the Monacaboes never fail to set it on fire. These inland
natives are much whiter than the Malays of the lower country; and the
king of Johor, whose subjects they are or ought to be, has never been
able to civilize them.

When the Dutch finally attempted to conquer Malacca from the
Portuguese, in alliance with the king of Johor, and besieged it both
by sea and land, they found it too strong to be reduced by force, and
thought it would be tedious to reduce it by famine. Hearing that the
Portuguese governor was a sordid, avaricious wretch, much hated by the
garrison, they tampered with him by letters, offering him mountains of
gold to betray his trust, and at length struck a bargain with him for
80,000 dollars, and to convey him to Batavia. Having in consequence of
his treachery got into the fort, where they gave no quarter to any one
found in arms, they dispatched the governor himself, to save payment
of the promised bribe.

The seventh government bestowed by the company is that of the Cape of
Good Hope. The governor here is always one of the counsellors of the
Indies, and has a council to assist him. This colony was taken from
the Portuguese by the Dutch in 1653, and is justly esteemed one of the
most important places in the hands of the company, though the profits
derived from it are not comparable to what they derive from some of
the islands in the East Indies. Formerly things were stil