During the western monsoon, the rains fall here with prodigious violence, attended with terrible storms of thunder and lightning, and frequent earthquakes; but the people, being used to them, are not much alarmed. The nations are, generally speaking, Mahometans, and are very expert in making all sorts of plate and ornaments in gold, with very few tools, yet with such inimitable dexterity, that their workmanship sells at a high rate all over India. The company sends a great number of slaves to this island every year to work in their gold-mines; but the kings in that part of the country are seldom on good terms with the Dutch, with whom they often quarrel. The principal places where gold is found are _Trion_ and _Manicabo_, and the way in which they procure the gold is as follows:--They dig trenches at the bottoms of the hills, so as to intercept the torrents which roll rapidly down their sides in the winter months: and having drained off the water from the ditches in summer, they find considerable quantities of gold-dust in the mud which remains. It is generally believed that this island furnishes annually 5000 pounds weight of gold-dust,[6] yet very little of this quantity is ever brought to Europe, being mostly employed by the servants of the East India Company in making purchases of commodities in places where gold bears a high price. [Footnote 6: Supposing these troy pounds, the value may be estimated at L. 240,000 sterling.--E.] The Dutch East India Company has long entertained a project of building ships at this island, as its timber is so good that ships built here are expected to last forty or fifty years, whereas those of Europe seldom last more than twelve or thirteen years. The Dutch have a strong fort and great factory at _Jambee_, and another at _Siack_, both in this island. This last place is excessively unwholesome, owing to the following circumstance, which certainly might be obviated. It stands on the great river Andragheira, into which, at one season of the year, there come vast shoals of large shads, a third part of their bulk being composed of their _roes_, which are accounted a great delicacy. Wherefore, after taking these out, the rest of the fish is thrown away, and as these lie in great heaps to corrupt, they exhale pestilential vapours and infect the air. The persons, therefore, who are sent to reside at Siack, are much of the same description with those formerly mentioned as sent to Banda, being of abandoned characters and desperate fortunes. There is another very considerable factory on the river Bencalis, which produces a large profit from the sale of cloth and opium, for which gold-dust is received in payment. This trade was discovered about forty years ago, that is, about the year 1680, by a factor, who carried it on privately for his own emolument for ten years, during which he acquired upwards of a _ton of gold_ yearly, a Dutch phrase implying L. 10,000 sterling. He then