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being brought thither and thence distributed to the markets of the world. The islands of Sondur and Condur, 700 miles from Champa, at which Marco's ship would appear to have touched, are the Pûlau Kondor of to-day, once the site of a factory of the British East. India Company, and now a penal settlement to which convicts are sent from Saigon, the capital of French Indo-China. Locac—"a good country and a rich; (it is on the mainland); and it has a king of its own. The people are idolaters and have a peculiar language, and pay tribute to nobody, for their country is so situated that no one can enter it to do them ill,"—is also described as yielding brasil "in great plenty; and they also have gold in incredible quantity." "They also," he adds, "have elephants and much game. In this kingdom too are gathered all the porcelain shells which are used for small change in all these regions." The identity of Locac has been much disputed, but the strongest case is made out by Sir Henry Yule, who places it in the Malay Peninsula, somewhere in what is now called Lower Siam.

Marco Polo's Pentam, "a very wild place," 500 miles towards the south, is almost certainly the island of Bentan near the entrance to the Straits of Malacca, "and when you have gone these sixty miles and again about thirty more, you come to an island which forms a kingdom, and is called Malaiur. The people have a king of their own and a peculiar language. The city is a fine and noble one, and there is great trade carried on there, and all other necessaries of life." It is impossible to disregard Polo's distinct assertion that Malaiur was an island, and