ENTRANCE OF PADANG RIVER.
With Buffaloes.

PLATE 18A. VIEW OF PADANG HILL.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 19. A VILLAGE HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 19a. A PLANTATION HOUSE IN SUMATRA.
W. Bell delt. J.G. Stadler sculpt.

INDEX.

...

PREFACE.

The island of Sumatra, which, in point of situation and extent, holds a
conspicuous rank on the terraqueous globe, and is surpassed by few in the
bountiful indulgences of nature, has in all ages been unaccountably
neglected by writers insomuch that it is at this day less known, as to
the interior parts more especially, than the remotest island of modern
discovery; although it has been constantly resorted to by Europeans for
some centuries, and the English have had a regular establishment there
for the last hundred years. It is true that the commercial importance of
Sumatra has much declined. It is no longer the Emporium of Eastern riches
whither the traders of the West resorted with their cargoes to exchange
them for the precious merchandise of the Indian Archipelago: nor does it
boast now the political consequence it acquired when the rapid progress
of the Portuguese successes there first received a check. That
enterprising people, who caused so many kingdoms to shrink from the
terror of their arms, met with nothing but disgrace in their attempts
against Achin, whose monarchs made them tremble in their turn. Yet still
the importance of this island in the eye of the natural historian has
continued undiminished, and has equally at all periods laid claim to an
attention that does not appear, at any, to have been paid to it.

The Portuguese being better warriors than philosophers, and more eager to
conquer nations than to explore their manners or antiquities, it is not
surprising that they should have been unable to furnish the world with
any particular and just description of a country which they must have
regarded with an evil eye. The Dutch were the next people from whom we
had a right to expect information. They had an early intercourse with the
island, and have at different times formed settlements in almost every
part of it; yet they are almost silent with respect to its history.* But
to what cause are we to ascribe the remissness of our own countrymen,
whose opportunities have been equal to those of their predecessors or
contemporaries? It seems difficult to account for it; but the fact is