tand in a vast temple, splendidly built of
various fine kinds of stone, and are said to contain vast riches,
yet are left unguarded, from an idea that they are protected by some
supernatural power; and they tell strange stories of persons having
dropt down dead, on approaching the places where these riches are
hidden, with an intention to steal. Many people believe that the
Javanese priests, who are Mahometans, have the power of causing sudden
death by means of incantations; and that they are able to enchant
crocodiles and serpents, causing the former to go into and out of the
water at command, and the latter to remain in any posture they please.
A great number of priests are maintained about this great temple, many
of whom have made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and are therefore held in
much veneration. These priests are all governed by a sovereign pontiff
or mufti, who is even more respected than the sultans. There was
formerly a considerable English factory at Cheribon, having a small
town belonging to it: But the persons of the factory so provoked the
people, by intriguing with their wives, that they rose one night and
massacred them all. Perhaps this might have been set on foot by their
Dutch neighbours.

Another resident has the direction of the company's affairs in the
kingdom of Siam, where the company carries on a considerable trade in
tin, lead, elephants-teeth, gum-lac, _wool_,[1] and other commodities.
The king of Siam is a prince of considerable power, and his dominions
extend nearly 300 leagues. Being favourable to commerce, all nations
are allowed to trade freely in his country; but ships of no great
burden are forced to anchor at the distance of sixty leagues from his
capital; because the river _Menan_, on which it is situated, is so
rapid that they find great difficulty in getting higher up. This
river, like the Nile and many others, overflows its banks at a certain
season, so that most of the country is under water for half the year,
for which reason all the houses are built on posts. The capital is a
large city, consisting at least of 50,000 houses, with a prodigious
number of temples.[2] The natives are all pagans, and hold this
singular maxim, "That all religions are good, provided they tend to
the honour of God." They think, however, that their own is the best;
though they sometimes own that the God of the Christians is most
powerful, because the head of their principal idol has been twice
beaten to p