The rajah of the town and his clerk visited the ship one morning. The rajah’s dress and air were anything but kingly. He was a man of advanced age, and at home would have passed muster as a respectable looking mulatto; but he had little to say, not understanding our language--his clerk, Tonga, interpreting for our captain and he. The harbor duties were paid in powder, with the addition of an old musket, and the provisions in whale’s teeth. The coast is considered unhealthy by the natives themselves; the rajah’s clerk expressing himself anxious to get away into the interior, saying that he was fearful of being sick. The utmost care was taken by us to prevent sickness. None of our crew were necessitated to drink the water--a cask of beer being continually on draught on the quarter-deck. No sleeping on deck was allowed, and no staying ashore at night. Even with all these precautions, our second and third mates were very ill--the latter severely so--and also one of the crew, with a debilitating fever peculiar to the climate. Several belonging to the James Allen also had reason to remember Balli for a long time after they left it--a distressing dysentery continuing to affect them for months. At Angiers, in Java, in nearly the same latitude as Balli, scarce an American whaler goes out, after a short stay, without leaving one or more of her crew to repose in death on its lovely shores: and we cannot but feel thankful for the protecting care of Providence, in guarding us from such a misfortune. This is the only objection to these East Indian ports, as I know of none where a crew of young men, if so disposed, can pass a few days more rationally and pleasantly, gleaning at the same time useful information. The climate appears to agree with the natives, as I saw numbers of the most attenuated human beings, who had attained a great age, so reduced that the student might, by procuring one of them, readily study anatomy from a living subject. I was at a loss for a long time to divine the occupation of these emaciated creatures, but soon found that they were mendicants. They never solicited alms, but seemed to make a good thing of it--the countrymen and women bestowing pice freely amongst them. Although so old and reduced, their vanity still remained, as was shown by their eagerness to purchase our gaudy calico. These people profess the religion of Mahomet, and their creed seems to enjoin cleanliness upon them, as they are neat and cleanly to an almost painful degree--performing their ablutions frequently and thoroughly, like all others of the same faith. Pork is their abomination, as much as it is to the children of Judea.