probable that its prosperity may increase; and as it is convenient for vessels employed in the whale fishery to refit and refresh, I have no doubt they will now make it a frequent rendezvous. A considerable trade is carried on, chiefly in sandal-wood and bees-wax, which meet a ready sale in the Chinese market. Horses, which are of a small breed, but exceedingly hardy, form an article of export, principally to the Isle of France. They are most readily procured by vessels going along the coast, in exchange for powder and muskets;—the importation of these articles being prohibited at Coupang.
The British settlements on the north coast of New Holland are supplied from this place with buffaloes, sheep, and occasionally with other articles; and, as it was imagined that a commercial intercourse might be established, Mr. Bechade, who had entered into a contract to supply the settlement with fresh provisions, purchased a vessel to trade between Timor and Melville Island.
The chief mode of agriculture practised here is highly curious. To prepare a field for the reception of rice, maize, or wheat, a herd of buffaloes are turned into it, and chased to and fro, until the ground is imagined to be sufficiently wrought; and notwithstanding this slovenly system of husbandry, the fertile earth yields an abundant return.
Coupang, and the subordinate settlements along the coast, with the adjacent islands of Bottee and Semao, are governed by a Resident, (under the control of the
