 In effect, this measure was intended to entice merchants from the Dutch ports in the region.As a result, the number of incoming vessels increased exponentially from 85 in 1786 to 3,569 in 1802; George Town's population had also risen to 10,000 by 1792.Immigrants came from various parts of Asia; in 1801, the then Lieutenant-Governor of the "Prince of Wales Island", Sir George Leith, remarked that ""there is not, probably, any part of the world where, in so small a space, so many different people are assembled together or so great a variety of languages spoken"".