we soon found that this would not be the case: in the commencement we were told that there would be a trifling duty on spices. On this we memoralized the Government of Batavia, stating, that as we had been at a very heavy expense in bringing the plantations forward, and were now only beginning to reap the benefit of our unwearied exertions, we hoped they would take our case into consideration, as our former Government had done, and permit us, for the present, to go on as heretofore. They wrote us back for answer, that our request was inadmissible, and they laid on a duty that may (as managed by them) be called 20 per cent., that is, they have put on a duty of 10 dollars a picul: their other duties may also be considered as exorbitantly out of the way. Upon every bag of Bengal rice they exact a duty of a rupee; a quantity came to me, some time back, at the time rice was very dear, that is, six dollars a bag. I therefore begged the Government to suspend the duty till the price came down a little, but I was told that regulations had been sent from Batavia, with a long list of other duties, and, therefore, it must take effect at once. It did, and all that has been landed since has been obliged to pay the same heavy duties. This, with other numerous matters that bear hard on the planters, will make their losses severe, and do away all hope that this class will be able to stand their ground. At the same time, these arbitrary habits of their present masters render them the most galling of mortals; and, in fact, make it impossible for an Englishman to live under their yoke.

The whole of their arbitrary system of punishments is abominable to an Englishman's feelings, for, however deserving of death culprits might be, we still consider them entitled to a hearing, which is not always granted here, though no English Governor would, of course, venture to hang a man without a trial. Two men were recently apprehended here for a murder: the case of one was thought clear, and he was condemned to death; the guilt of the other, it appears, was not so evident, he was therefore sentenced to be flogged at the gallows; but this flogging was so severe that he sunk under it before they had finished. He was taken to the hospital and there died. The man that was hung remained hanging on the green, before the Government-house, the whole day; the body was then taken down, and left to hang three days more outside. Two others have been hung since this; the same process has been observed. All this may be very well among themselves, though I doubt whether the Dutch have any of these horrid practices in Europe. I always understood quite the contrary; however, there is not a doubt but they carry things further in their colonies, whether they are authorised by the Government at home or not. They have also a system of torture here, to make witnesses, they say, speak the truth; that is, I suppose, to make them speak whatever they wish them; for it has that effect. It has as yet, I hear, been tried only on women.

The mode is to tie the wrists as close and as tight together as they can be, then to force them over the knees, and in this position to pass along heavy sticks over the arms and under the hains, which very soon give excrutiating torture, and then they leave the victims tied in this cruel position till they will tell what may be required. Their shrieks and screams are dreadful; but in this state they must remain. For a woman to undergo this process, you will observe, they must put on a pair of breeches, as without them they would remain exposed to the police-men, who have to see this process managed. How would you be able to reconcile these horrid practices to your feelings? Can it for a moment be thought extraordinary that the Natives in all their islands should prefer being under the English? Our Ministers at home have given these Dutch gentlemen credit for feelings they never will possess; they hoped that, for decency's sake, they would not venture to make any great changes till a few years were expired. That they have been wrong in their conjectures, their heavy duties, and other exactions, will make suffficiently clear; and that they will act in direct opposition to the strict terms of the treaty is equally evident.

The English Government left 300 or 400 African negroes here; they had been originally slaves of the East India Company, but were liberated by Sir Stamford Raffles. On the English rulers of the settlement going away, they made a representation of their hard case, stating that they should be left to starve unless the Government stretched forth a saving hand towards them. The matter was brought to the notice of the Bengal Government, and they offered a pension of six rupees a month each, to all those that wished to go round to Singapore, desiring their agent to procure passage for them. When they came to inquire how many there were that wished to embrace the offer of Government, they found there were about 300; they, therefore, thought it advisable to write to the agent at Batavia to procure them a vessel for the purpose of taking the said negroes to Singapore, mentioning, at the same time, to the Resident the measures they were adopting. To make short, the vessel came, the ship Mary of 500 tons. The expense attending her coming was 20,000 rupees; that is, she was taken up for 17,000, and the expense to the Honourable Company for water-casks, and other little matters, for the accommodation of so many men, came to 3,000 rupees more. However, no sooner was this vessel anchored in the roads, than it was notified that none of the negroes would be allowed to leave the place. A remonstrance took place without effect; a boat was also dispatched to the Supreme Government at Batavia to state the circumstance, and to request that the individuals whom the ship Mary came to take, might be allowed permission to depart, as they were all free, and a pension granted them at Singapore by the English Government. The only answer the Dutch Govern

ment deigned to give was, that they approved of the measures of their Resident at Bencoolen.

Now, can there be a greater violation of the treaty than this was ! Yet though the East India Company has been obliged to pay the money, I am tempted to think that the whole will be allowed to die away without a comment, and the poor wretches, whom it was intended to secure from want, be forced to stay here and starve. The reason assigned for this extraordinary step was, that the Government did not choose to stand quietly by and see the place abandoned. This argument would have been equally good in preventing the sepoys and civilians from going; all that can be said is, that we are at such a distance, and so completely thrown from the protection of our native country, that let whatever atrocities may take place, no hope can be found of a helping hand being stretched out to save us. We are, therefore, obliged to abandon every thing, however valuable it may have been, and trust to the Government at home for our future support. How they may be disposed towards us I have no mode of ascertaining, as it is now just one complete year since I had a letter from my agent in London, who, I am led to think, is seeing what can be done.

An individual lately died here, and just before his death it was thought advisable that he should have his will drawn out; and as he was very desirous that his own countrymen should have the management of his affairs, in case of his death, he begged it might be so ordered. The Resident, and the other Dutch authorities, being present, all desirous to see every thing should be done as he wished, they pointed out the way the will should be worded, so as to prevent the Dutch Government, or their Orphan Chamber, from interfering in case of his death; and he was firmly assured that all was secure. The house he lived in he left, with every thing as it stood, to his house-keeper and his son by her, and we imagined things would be allowed to continue as they were, as they would have done under the late Government; but an order has been given that the household property and every thing should be sold, and what would not sell to be valued, that the transfer and other duties might be levied. One of the executors of the estate told me, he thinks, by the mode they are calculating, that they will contrive to screw from the estate at least 10,000 rupees. This will oblige them to sell, and so impoverished is the estate that there will be nothing remaining of any valuable property. This they say is done by the Orphan Chamber, to secure and assist the heirs. Now, I am of opinion, that they have no right to the transfer duty till the end of six years, but they contend they can take it in the first instance, and dispute the point hereafter; that is, they are determined to take all advantages, and leave their Government at home to defend their measures here; but, without further elu

cidation, this will give you an idea how we are situated. At any rate, I shall feel obliged if you can ascertain from any of your political friends, whether they have a right to this transfer duty, or, indeed, to any other duty for the first six years, beyond what existed at the time of their taking charge. If you can make a question of these points in the Oriental Herald, it may lead to some further investigation. At any rate, as I am still residing here, and must do so for some time, it will be of importance that my name do not appear, as it might bring about another Amboyna affair; for when these men have the power, they have very little care about the result of their actions.

I have just written to Sir Stamford Raffles, and given him, perhaps, a more enlarged statement, saying, at the same time, I was greatly surprised that the whole of the transaction of the treaty had not been brought forward by any of our political writers of the day. I also begged to know what would have been the case, had Ministers found it their interest (or the interest of the nation at large, for it must not be supposed for a moment they can be guided by any other principle) to exchange Jamaica for Java, or any other place; and that our Ministers, still consulting the good of the nation, had, without one moment's notice, thrown the inhabitants of Jamaica from the protection of the British Government, under the full and absolute rule of the Dutch ;-why the case would have been, that all the pens in London would instantly have started from their stands, to inveigh against the iniquity of the measure, and would have demanded that Ministers should step forward with an offer of indemnity to the sufferers.

I plainly perceive that property here will no longer be of any value, as those places already sold would not now fetch one-tenth of their late purchase-money. In fact, a very valuable estate here would now fetch no more than one of the ancient palaces on the plains of Palmyra. The places are nearly equally desolate.

Statement of Houses and Plantations sold, with their original costs, and account of sales; stating, also, the former Owners, and the names of the Purchasers.

Dollars. Dollars.

Mr. Winter, the clergyman's house, cost 3500.-Sold to Mr. Baskett for 520.-Loss 2979.

Dollars.

Mr. Basket

10,312. 21,100.

2866.

Mr. Shepherdson, 1050.- 3950.

Put up, and not bid for.

"

GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS.

We noticed, some time ago, the failure of an attempt to proceed along the Brahmapootra in an easterly direction, and that it was proposed to repeat the undertaking at a more favourable opportunity. In the mean time, circumstances having occurred which were considered propitious to a northerly excursion along the Dihong, towards the country of the Bor Abors, this journey, we understand, has been accomplished by Lieuts. Wilcox, and Burlton. The result has not satisfactorily solved the great problem of the connexion of any of the rivers of Assam with the San-po, the advance to a sufficient distance having been impeded by the unwillingness or inability of the hill tribes to give necessary assistance; but we should think little doubt can remain of the identity of that river with the Dihong, unless the geography of the Lamas is wholly erroneous. The travellers ascended the Dihong to the village of Pashee, two days journey beyond the point reached by Captain Bedford in his journey up the same river, of which we gave a summary in our paper of the 2d February 1826. The people of the villages along their route, offered no interruption to their progress, but expostulated with them on the toil and danger to which they exposed themselves, declined supplying them with guides; and with such information as they furnished, deceived and misdirected them. Under these circumstances, they found the natural difficulties of the route insuperable. The banks of the river rose perpendicularly from the water's edge, and were surmounted by steep hills covered with thick jungle, through which it was impossible to cut a path. Having proceeded, in a small canoe, a few miles up the river, beyond the point where a path along shore became impracticable, the travellers were stopped by a formidable rapid, which it would have been difficult to ascend, and dangerous to return by. On climbing up the rock, an unbroken reach of water was observed running for some distance in a westerly direction: according to Native information, it follows this course for twenty miles, and then runs as far north. The path to the Bor Abor country goes directly to the north, and, consequently, leaves the river at this point. The width of the stream is here reduced to one hundred yards, and the current is slow; but as no considerable branch had joined the Dihong, on the route, all the water poured by it into the Brahmapootra, in quantity more than double the contents of the latter, must be comprised in this channel. The source of the stream is said to be remote;-a tribe, called the Simongs, are in the immediate neighbourhood of the point reached, and it is supposed that the country of the Lamas is next to theirs.

The view from the Pashee village is described as most magnificent, comprehending the course of the Brahmapootra from the hills