ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

Piraftical adventurers.
24r S U M A T R A ,
mucks might perhaps be found, upon fcrutiny, of the nature of the
foregoing, where a man of ftrong feelings was driven, by excefs of injury,
to domeflic rebellion.
It is true that the Malays, when, in a ftate of war, they are bent on
any daring enterprize, fortify themfelves with a few whiffs of opium, to
render them infenfible to danger; as the people of another nation are
faid to take a dram ; but it mult be obferved that, the refolution for the
act, precedes, and is not the effect of the intoxication. They take the
fame precaution, previous to being led to public execution, but on thefe
occafions fhew greater figns of ftupidity, than frenzy. Upon the whole,
it may be reafonably concluded, that the fanguinary atchievements, for
which the Malays have been famous, or infamous rather, in hiftory, are
more jultly derived from the natural ferocity of their difpofition, thanfrom
the qualities of any drug whatever. The pretext of the foldiers
of the country guard, for uiing opium, is, that it may render them watchful
on their nightly pofts : we, on the contrary, adminifter it to procure
fleep ; and according to the quantity it has either effect. The delirium
it produces is known to be fo very pleafing, that Pope has fuppofed this
to have been defigned by Homer, when he defcribes the delicious draught
prepared by Helen, called Nepenthe, "which exhilerated the fpirits, and
baniflied from the mind the recollection of woa.
It is remarkable that at Batavia; where the afTafïïns juft now defcribed,
when taken alive, are broken on the wheel, with every aggravation
of punilhment that the moft rigorous juflice can inflict; the mucks yet
happen in great frequency ; whilft at Ben;ockn, where they are executed
in the moft fimple and expeditious manner, the offence is extremely rare.
Excefles of feverity in punilhment may deter men from deliberate, and
interefled adfo of villany, but they add fuel to the atrocious entliufiafm
of defperadoes. A further proof of the influence that mild government;
has upon the manners of people, is, that the piratic.il adventures, fo common
on theeaftern coaft of the ifland, are unknown on the weftern. Far
from our having apprehenfions of the Mahiys> the guards at the fmaller
Engliflx
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