152 DOMESTIC AND INTERNAL tains an intercourse. The tribes of the Indian islands entertain sojiie of those feelings in common with the rest. The first thing to be done by a stranger merchant coming among them, is to con- ciliate the good will of the prince, and obtain his peraiission to trade, which must be done by an of- fer of gifts. The imposition of regular duties on trade is seldom thought of. The short-sighted judgment of the native prince sees an apparently obvious benefit to be derived from buying cheap and selling dear, and he either makes a monopoly of the traffic, or parts with the privilege of trading to some favourite, or for some valuable considera- tion. A Malay prince is, therefore, as already mentioned, in general the first and often the only merchant in his country. * Where a busy traffic with the more enlightened nations of Asia was es- tablished, and especially where Arabs and their de-
- Beaulieu, speaking of Acliin, describes tliis character of
the commerce with strangers perfectly well : " But the great- est damp on the tnido of that place," says he, " is that the king engrosses it all into his own hands ; for what conmiodi- ties he buys, he must have them under a market-price, and what he sells rises fifty per cent, above it ;" and again he says of the king, " He knew very well that his buying pepper at the same time would stifle my market, and if any one had sold me pepper he would certainly have punished him, under pretext of preferring my custom to his." — Harris's Colledion, Vol.1.
