William Marsden - The History of Sumatra

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(PLATE 16. A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.
T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.)

THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA,

CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF

THE GOVERNMENT, LAWS, CUSTOMS, AND MANNERS

OF

THE NATIVE INHABITANTS,

WITH

A DESCRIPTION OF THE NATURAL PRODUCTIONS,

AND A RELATION OF THE

ANCIENT POLITICAL STATE OF THAT ISLAND.

BY

WILLIAM MARSDEN, F.R.S.

THE THIRD EDITION, WITH CORRECTIONS, ADDITIONS, AND PLATES.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
BY J. M'CREERY, BLACK-HORSE-COURT,
AND SOLD BY
LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME, AND BROWN, PATERNOSTER-ROW.
1811.

...

THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE.

CHAPTER 1.

SITUATION.
NAME.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS.
AIR AND METEORS.
MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
MINERALS AND FOSSILS.
VOLCANOES.
EARTHQUAKES.
SURFS AND TIDES.

CHAPTER 2.

DISTINCTION OF INHABITANTS.
REJANGS CHOSEN FOR GENERAL DESCRIPTION.
PERSONS AND COMPLEXION.
CLOTHING AND ORNAMENTS.

CHAPTER 3.

VILLAGES.
BUILDINGS.
DOMESTIC UTENSILS.
FOOD.

CHAPTER 4.

AGRICULTURE.
RICE, ITS CULTIVATION, ETC.
PLANTATIONS OF COCONUT, BETEL-NUT, AND OTHER VEGETABLES FOR DOMESTIC USE.
DYE STUFFS.

CHAPTER 5.

FRUITS, FLOWERS, MEDICINAL SHRUBS AND HERBS.

CHAPTER 6.

BEASTS.
REPTILES.
FISH.
BIRDS.
INSECTS.

CHAPTER 7.

VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS OF THE ISLAND CONSIDERED AS ARTICLES OF COMMERCE.
PEPPER.
CULTIVATION OF PEPPER.
CAMPHOR.
BENZOIN.
CASSIA, ETC.

CHAPTER 8.

GOLD, TIN, AND OTHER METALS.
BEESWAX.
IVORY.
BIRDS-NEST, ETC.
IMPORT-TRADE.

CHAPTER 9.

ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.
ART OF MEDICINE.
SCIENCES.
ARITHMETIC.
GEOGRAPHY.
ASTRONOMY.
MUSIC, ETC.

CHAPTER 10.

LANGUAGES.
MALAYAN.
ARABIC CHARACTER USED.
LANGUAGES OF THE INTERIOR PEOPLE.
PECULIAR CHARACTERS.
SPECIMENS OF LANGUAGES AND OF ALPHABETS.

CHAPTER 11.

COMPARATIVE STATE OF THE SUMATRANS IN CIVIL SOCIETY.
DIFFERENCE OF CHARACTER BETWEEN THE MALAYS AND OTHER INHABITANTS.
GOVERNMENT.
TITLES AND POWER OF THE CHIEFS AMONG THE REJANGS.
INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEANS.
GOVERNMENT IN PASSUMMAH.

CHAPTER 12.

LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
MODE OF DECIDING CAUSES.
CODE OF LAWS.

CHAPTER 13.

REMARKS ON, AND ELUCIDATION OF, THE VARIOUS LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
MODES OF PLEADING.
NATURE OF EVIDENCE.
OATHS.
INHERITANCE.
OUTLAWRY.
THEFT, MURDER, AND COMPENSATION FOR IT.
ACCOUNT OF A FEUD.
DEBTS.
SLAVERY.

CHAPTER 14.

MODES OF MARRIAGE, AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE THERETO.
POLYGAMY.
FESTIVALS.
GAMES.
COCK-FIGHTING.
USE AND EFFECTS OF OPIUM.

CHAPTER 15.

CUSTOM OF CHEWING BETEL.
EMBLEMATIC PRESENTS.
ORATORY.
CHILDREN.
NAMES.
CIRCUMCISION.
FUNERALS.
RELIGION.

CHAPTER 16.

THE COUNTRY OF LAMPONG AND ITS INHABITANTS.
LANGUAGE.
GOVERNMENT.
WARS.
PECULIAR CUSTOMS.
RELIGION.

CHAPTER 17.

ACCOUNT OF THE INLAND COUNTRY OF KORINCHI.
EXPEDITION TO THE SERAMPEI AND SUNGEI-TENANG COUNTRIES.

CHAPTER 18.

MALAYAN STATES.
ANCIENT EMPIRE OF MENANGKABAU.
ORIGIN OF THE MALAYS AND GENERAL ACCEPTATION OF NAME.
EVIDENCES OF THEIR MIGRATION FROM SUMATRA.
SUCCESSION OF MALAYAN PRINCES.
PRESENT STATE OF THE EMPIRE.
TITLES OF THE SULTAN.
CEREMONIES.
CONVERSION TO MAHOMETAN RELIGION.
LITERATURE.
ARTS.
WARFARE.
GOVERNMENT.

CHAPTER 19.

KINGDOMS OF INDRAPURA, ANAK-SUNGEI, PASSAMMAN, SIAK.

CHAPTER 20.

THE COUNTRY OF THE BATTAS.
TAPPANULI-BAY.
JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
CASSIA-TREES.
GOVERNMENTS.
ARMS.
WARFARE.
TRADE.
FAIRS.
FOOD.
MANNERS.
LANGUAGE.
WRITING.
RELIGION.
FUNERALS.
CRIMES.
EXTRAORDINARY CUSTOM.

CHAPTER 21.

KINGDOM OF ACHIN.
ITS CAPITAL.
AIR.
INHABITANTS.
COMMERCE.
MANUFACTURES.
NAVIGATION.
COIN.
GOVERNMENT.
REVENUES.
PUNISHMENTS.

CHAPTER 22.

HISTORY OF THE KINGDOM OF ACHIN, FROM THE PERIOD OF ITS BEING VISITED BY
EUROPEANS.

CHAPTER 23.

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF SUMATRA.

LIST OF PLATES.

PLATE 1. THE PEPPER-PLANT, Piper nigrum.
E.W. Marsden delt. Engraved by J. Swaine, Queen Street, Golden Square.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 2. THE DAMMAR, A SPECIES OF PINUS.
Sinensis delt. Swaine Sc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 3. THE MANGUSTIN FRUIT, Garcinia mangostana.
Engraved by J. Swaine.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 4. THE RAMBUTAN, Nephelium lappaceum.
L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 5. THE LANSEH FRUIT, Lansium domesticum.
L. Wilkins delt. Hooker Sc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 6. THE RAMBEH FRUIT, A SPECIES OF LANSEH.
Maria Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 7. THE KAMILING OR BUAH KRAS, Juglans camirium.
L. Wilkins delt. Engraved by J. Swaine.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 8. Marsdenia tinctoria, OR BROAD-LEAFED INDIGO.
E.W. Marsden delt. Swaine fct.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 9. A SPECIES OF Lemur volans, SUSPENDED FROM THE RAMBEH-TREE.
Sinensis delt. N. Cardon fct.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 9a. THE MUSANG, A SPECIES OF VIVERRA.
W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 10. THE TANGGILING OR PENG-GOLING-SISIK, A SPECIES OF MANIS.
W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fct.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 11. n.1. THE ANJING-AYER, Mustela lutra.
W. Bell delt. A. Cardon fc.

PLATE 11a. n.2.
1. SKULL OF THE KAMBING-UTAN.
2. SKULL OF THE KIJANG.
W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.

PLATE 12. n.1. THE PALANDOK, A DIMINUTIVE SPECIES OF MOSCHUS.
Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.

PLATE 12a. n.2. THE KIJANG OR ROE, Cervus muntjak.
W. Bell delt. A. Cardon sc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 13. n.1. THE LANDAK, Hystrix longicauda.
Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 13a. n.2. THE ANJING-AYER.
Sinensis delt. A. Cardon fc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 14. n.1. THE KAMBING-UTAN, OR WILD-GOAT.
W. Bell delt.

PLATE 14a. n.2. THE KUBIN, Draco volans.
Sinensis delt. A. Cardon sc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 15. BEAKS OF THE BUCEROS OR HORN-BILL.
M. de Jonville delt. Swaine sc.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 16. A MALAY BOY, NATIVE OF BENCOOLEN.
T. Heaphy delt. A. Cardon fecit.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 17. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
A. A Malay Gadoobang.
B. A Batta Weapon.
C. A Malay Creese.
One-third of the size of the Originals.
W. Williams del. and sculpt.
Published by W. Marsden, 1810.

PLATE 17a. SUMATRAN WEAPONS.
D. A Malay Creese.
E. An Achenese Creese.
F. A Malay Sewar.
One-third of the size of the Originals.
W. Williams del. and sculpt.

PLATE 18. 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
that, excepting a short sketch of the manners prevailing in a particular
district of the island, published in the Philosophical Transactions of
the year 1778, not one page of information respecting the inhabitants of
Sumatra has been communicated to the public by any Englishman who has
resided there.

(*Footnote. At the period when this remark was written, I was not aware
that an account of the Dutch settlements and commerce in Sumatra by M.
Adolph Eschels-kroon had in the preceding year been published at
Hamburgh, in the German language; nor had the transactions of a literary
society established at Batavia, whose first volume appeared there in
1779, yet reached this country. The work, indeed, of Valentyn, containing
a general history of the European possessions in the East Indies, should
have exempted a nation to which oriental learning is largely indebted
from what I now consider as an unmerited reflection.)

To form a general and tolerably accurate account of this country and its
inhabitants is a work attended with great and peculiar difficulties. The
necessary information is not to be procured from the people themselves,
whose knowledge and inquiries are to the last degree confined, scarcely
extending beyond the bounds of the district where they first drew breath;
and but very rarely have the almost impervious woods of Sumatra been
penetrated to any considerable distance from the sea coast by Europeans,
whose observations have been then imperfect, trusted perhaps to memory
only, or, if committed to paper, lost to the world by their deaths. Other
difficulties arise from the extraordinary diversity of national
distinctions, which, under a great variety of independent governments,
divide this island in many directions; and yet not from their number
merely, nor from the dissimilarity in their languages or manners, does
the embarrassment entirely proceed: the local divisions are perplexed and
uncertain; the extent of jurisdiction of the various princes is
inaccurately defined; settlers from different countries and at different
periods have introduced an irregular though powerful influence that
supersedes in some places the authority of the established governments,
and imposes a real dominion on the natives where a nominal one is not
assumed. This, in a course of years, is productive of innovations that
destroy the originality and genuineness of their customs and manners,
obliterate ancient distinctions, and render confused the path of an
investigator.

These objections, which seem to have hitherto proved unsurmountable with
such as might have been inclined to attempt the history of Sumatra, would
also have deterred me from an undertaking apparently so arduous, had I
not reflected that those circumstances in which consisted the principal
difficulty were in fact the least interesting to the public, and of the
least utility in themselves. It is of but small importance to determine
with precision whether a few villages on this or that particular river
belong to one petty chief or to another; whether such a nation is divided
into a greater or lesser number of tribes; or which of two neighbouring
powers originally did homage to the other for its title. History is only
to be prized as it tends to improve our knowledge of mankind, to which
such investigations contribute in a very small degree. I have therefore
attempted rather to give a comprehensive than a circumstantial
description of the divisions of the country into its various governments;
aiming at a more particular detail in what respects the customs,
opinions, arts, and industry of the original inhabitants in their most
genuine state. The interests of the European powers who have established
themselves on the island; the history of their settlements, and of the
revolutions of their commerce I have not considered as forming a part of
my plan; but these subjects, as connected with the accounts of the native
inhabitants and the history of their governments, are occasionally
introduced.

I was principally encouraged to this undertaking by the promises of
assistance I received from some ingenious and very highly esteemed
friends who resided with me in Sumatra. It has also been urged to me here
in England that, as the subject is altogether new, it is a duty incumbent
on me to lay the information I am in possession of, however defective,
before the public, who will not object to its being circumscribed whilst
its authenticity remains unimpeachable. This last quality is that which I
can with the most confidence take upon me to vouch for. The greatest
portion of what I have described has fallen within the scope of my own
immediate observation; the remainder is either matter of common notoriety
to every person residing in the island, or received upon the concurring
authority of gentlemen whose situation in the East India Company's
service, long acquaintance with the natives, extensive knowledge of their
language, ideas, and manners, and respectability of character, render
them worthy of the most implicit faith that can be given to human
testimony.

I have been the more scrupulously exact in this particular because my
view was not, ultimately, to write an entertaining book to which the
marvellous might be thought not a little to contribute, but sincerely and
conscientiously to add the small portion in my power to the general
knowledge of the age; to throw some glimmering light on the path of the
naturalist; and more especially to furnish those philosophers whose
labours have been directed to the investigation of the history of Man
with facts to serve as data in their reasonings, which are too often
rendered nugatory, and not seldom ridiculous, by assuming as truths the
misconceptions or wilful impositions of travellers. The study of their
own species is doubtless the most interesting and important that can
claim the attention of mankind; and this science, like all others, it is
impossible to improve by abstract speculation merely. A regular series of
authenticated facts is what alone can enable us to rise towards a perfect
knowledge in it. To have added one new and firm step in this arduous
ascent is a merit of which I should be proud to boast.

...

Of this third edition it is necessary to observe that, the former two
having made their appearance so early as the years 1783 and 1784, it
would long since have been prepared for the public eye had not the duties
of an official situation occupied for many years the whole of my
attention. During that period, however, I received from my friends abroad
various useful, and, to me at least, interesting communications which
have enabled me to correct some inaccuracies, to supply deficiencies, and
to augment the general mass of information on the subject of an island
still but imperfectly explored. To incorporate these new materials
requiring that many liberties should be taken with the original
contexture of the work, I became the less scrupulous of making further
alterations wherever I thought they could be introduced with advantage.
The branch of natural history in particular I trust will be found to have
received much improvement, and I feel happy to have had it in my power to
illustrate several of the more interesting productions of the vegetable
and animal kingdoms by engravings executed from time to time as the
drawings were procured, and which are intended to accompany the volume in
a separate atlas.

...

THE HISTORY OF SUMATRA.

CHAPTER 1.

SITUATION.
NAME.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY, ITS MOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS.
AIR AND METEORS.
MONSOONS, AND LAND AND SEA-BREEZES.
MINERALS AND FOSSILS.
VOLCANOES.
EARTHQUAKES.
SURFS AND TIDES.

If antiquity holds up to us some models, in different arts and sciences,
which have been found inimitable, the moderns, on the other hand, have
carried their inventions and improvements, in a variety of instances, to
an extent and a degree of perfection of which the former could entertain
no ideas. Among those discoveries in which we have stepped so far beyond
our masters there is none more striking, or more eminently useful, than
the means which the ingenuity of some, and the experience of others, have
taught mankind, of determining with certainty and precision the relative
situation of the various countries of the earth. What was formerly the
subject of mere conjecture, or at best of vague and arbitrary
computation, is now the clear result of settled rule, founded upon
principles demonstratively just. It only remains for the liberality of
princes and states, and the persevering industry of navigators and
travellers, to effect the application of these means to their proper end,
by continuing to ascertain the unknown and uncertain positions of all the
parts of the world, which the barriers of nature will allow the skill and
industry of man to approach.

SITUATION OF THE ISLAND.

Sumatra, the subject of the present work, is an extensive island in the
East Indies, the most western of those which may be termed the Malayan
Archipelago, and constituting its boundary on that side.

LATITUDE.

The equator divides it obliquely, its general direction being north-west
and south-east, into almost equal parts; the one extremity lying in five
degrees thirty-three minutes north, and the other in five degrees
fifty-six minutes south latitude. In respect to relative position its
northern point stretches into the Bay of Bengal; its south-west coast is
exposed to the great Indian Ocean; towards the south it is separated by
the Straits of Sunda from the island of Java; on the east by the
commencement of the Eastern and China Seas from Borneo and other islands;
and on the north-east by the Straits of Malacca from the peninsula of
Malayo, to which, according to a tradition noticed by the Portuguese
historians, it is supposed to have been anciently united.

LONGITUDE.

The only point of the island whose longitude has been settled by actual
observation is Fort Marlborough, near Bencoolen, the principal English
settlement, standing in three degrees forty-six minutes of south
latitude. From eclipses of Jupiter's satellites observed in June 1769,
preparatory to an observation of the transit of the planet Venus over the
sun's disc, Mr. Robert Nairne calculated its longitude to be 101 degrees
42 minutes 45 seconds; which was afterwards corrected by the Astronomer
Royal to 102 degrees east of Greenwich. The situation of Achin Head is
pretty accurately fixed by computation at 95 degrees 34 minutes; and
longitudes of places in the Straits of Sunda are well ascertained by the
short runs from Batavia, which city has the advantage of an observatory.

MAP.

By the general use of chronometers in latter times the means have been
afforded of determining the positions of many prominent points both on
the eastern and western coasts, by which the map of the island has been
considerably improved: but particular surveys, such as those of the bays
and islets from Batang-kapas to Padang, made with great ability by
Captain (now Lieutenant-Colonel) John Macdonald; of the coast from
Priaman to the islands off Achin by Captain George Robertson; and of Siak
River by Mr. Francis Lynch, are much wanted; and the interior of the
country is still very imperfectly known. From sketches of the routes of
Mr. Charles Campbell and of Lieutenant Hastings Dare I have been enabled
to delineate the principal features of the Sarampei, Sungei Tenang and
Korinchi countries, inland of Ipu, Moco-moco, and Indrapura; and
advantage has been taken of all other information that could be procured.
For the general materials from which the map is constructed I am chiefly
indebted to the kindness of my friend, the late Mr. Alexander Dalrymple,
whose indefatigable labours during a long life have contributed more than
those of any other person to the improvement of Indian Hydrography. It
may be proper to observe that the map of Sumatra to be found in the fifth
volume of Valentyn's great work is so extremely incorrect, even in regard
to those parts immediately subject to the Dutch government, as to be
quite useless.

UNKNOWN TO THE ANCIENTS. TAPROBANE.

Notwithstanding the obvious situation of this island in the direct track
from the ports of India to the Spice Islands and to China, it seems to
have been unknown to the Greek and Roman geographers, whose information
or conjectures carried them no farther than Selan-dib or Ceylon, which
has claims to be considered as their Taprobane; although during the
middle ages that celebrated name was almost uniformly applied to Sumatra.
The single circumstance indeed of the latter being intersected by the
equator (as Taprobane was said to be) is sufficient to justify the doubts
of those who were disinclined to apply it to the former; and whether in
fact the obscure and contradictory descriptions given by Strabo,
Pomponius Mela, Pliny, and Ptolemy, belonged to any actual place, however
imperfectly known; or whether, observing that a number of rare and
valuable commodities were brought from an island or islands in the
supposed extremity of the East, they might have been led to give place in
their charts to one of vast extent, which should stand as the
representative of the whole, is a question not to be hastily decided.

OPHIR.

The idea of Sumatra being the country of Ophir, whither Solomon sent his
fleets for cargoes of gold and ivory, rather than to the coast of Sofala,
or other part of Africa, is too vague, and the subject wrapped in a veil
of too remote antiquity, to allow of satisfactory discussion; and I shall
only observe that no inference can be drawn from the name of Ophir found
in maps as belonging to a mountain in this island and to another in the
peninsula; these having been applied to them by European navigators, and
the word being unknown to the natives.

Until the discovery of the passage to India by the Cape of Good Hope the
identity of this island as described or alluded to by writers is often
equivocal, or to be inferred only from corresponding circumstances.

ARABIAN TRAVELLERS.

The first of the two Arabian travellers of the ninth century, the account
of whose voyages to India and China was translated by Renaudot from a
manuscript written about the year 1173, speaks of a large island called
Ramni, in the track between Sarandib and Sin (or China), that from the
similarity of productions has been generally supposed to mean Sumatra;
and this probability is strengthened by a circumstance I believe not
hitherto noticed by commentators. It is said to divide the Sea of
Herkend, or Indian Ocean, from the Sea of Shelahet) Salahet in Edrisi),
and Salat being the Malayan term both for a strait in general, and for
the well-known passage within the island of Singapura in particular, this
may be fairly presumed to refer to the Straits of Malacca.

EDRISI.

Edrisi, improperly called the Nubian geographer, who dedicated his work
to Roger, King of Sicily, in the middle of the twelfth century, describes
the same island, in the first climate, by the name of Al-Rami; but the
particulars so nearly correspond with those given by the Arabian
traveller as to show that the one account was borrowed from the other. He
very erroneously however makes the distance between Sarandib and that
island to be no more than three days' sail instead of fifteen. The island
of Soborma, which he places in the same climate, is evidently Borneo, and
the two passages leading to it are the Straits of Malacca and of Sunda.
What is mentioned of Sumandar, in the second climate, has no relation
whatever to Sumatra, although from the name we are led to expect it.

MARCO POLO.

Marco Polo, the celebrated Venetian traveller of the thirteenth century,
is the first European who speaks of this island, but under the
appellation of Java minor, which he gave to it by a sort of analogy,
having forgotten, or not having learned from the natives, its appropriate
name. His relation, though for a long time undervalued, and by many
considered as a romantic tale, and liable as it is to the charge of
errors and omissions, with some improbabilities, possesses,
notwithstanding, strong internal evidence of genuineness and good faith.
Containing few dates, the exact period of his visit to Sumatra cannot be
ascertained, but as he returned to Venice in 1295, and possibly five
years might have elapsed in his subsequent tedious voyages and journeys
by Ceylon, the Karnatick, Malabar, Guzerat, Persia, the shores of the
Caspian and Euxine, to Genoa (in a prison at which place he is said to
have dictated his narrative), we may venture to refer it to the year
1290.