600 



SUMATRA 



SUM NEK 



Tin' Sumatran fauna is of peculiar scientific 

 interest. Of the 112 mammals known la exist in 

 tin 1 island (19 more than those in the larger island 

 of Borneo) 46 are common in Borneo and 39 to 

 Java. The birds are in the main liornean, and the 

 same is true of the snakes (44 species). The 

 liornean forms, however, are almost entirely con- 

 fined to the eastern side of the island ; as soon as 

 the naturalist crosses the Barisan Mountains he 

 finds himsflf in a new region. The * traiig-outang I of 

 limited range and not abundant ) and the bru ( Malay 

 name) or Meester Kees (Dutch), employed by 

 the natives to gather their cocoa-nuts, are the most 

 noteworthy of the numerous apes. The true tiger, 

 the bruang or Malay bear, the much-hunted rusa 

 deer, the dainty kanchil deer, the Malay hog, the 

 tapir, the two-honied Sumatran rhinoceros, and 

 the Sumatran elephant are characteristic forms. 

 Among the commonest birds are Argus pheasants, 

 horn bills, goatsuckers, and grakles (one species 

 of the latter largely kept in cages for their parrot- 

 like powers of speech). Both the python ( 15 to 20 

 feet long) and the cobra are of frequent occurrence, 

 and the crocodile swarms towards the coast ami 

 ascends the rivers as far as the foot of the moun- 

 tains. As an indication of the extraordinary 

 variety of insect life, 250 species of spiders have 

 been discovered since 1858. 



Sumatra is peopled in the main by trilies of the 

 Malay stock, differing very markedly, however, in 

 degree of civilisation, custom, and language. An 

 earlier non-Malay element is more or less distinctly 

 represented. The Kubus, a savage forest-dwelling 

 race, the Battas (n/v.) or Batahs now one of the 

 l)est-kiiown and ethnographical!} 1 most interesting 

 tribes and the Kedjangers may be singled out 

 from a host of others. Hindu influences, which 

 have left their mark in mins of temples, religious 

 customs, language, alphabets, &c., began to tell on 

 Sumatra at a period prior to the 7th century. In the 

 13th Mohammedanism was introduced. The island 

 became known in 1508 to Europeans through the 

 Portuguese Lope/ de Figuera, whose fellow-country- 

 men were not long in founding trading stations on 

 the coasts. The Portuguese were ousted by the 

 Dutch towards the close of the 16th century. 

 Begun in 1620 by their East India Company, the 

 permanent Dutch occupation was not completely 

 carried out round the coast till 1881, and much of 

 the interior is still semi-independent and un- 

 explored. The Dutch possessions were in the hands 

 of the British between 1811 and 1816, ami portions 

 down till 1825. The residency of the East Coast 

 was established in 1873; the government of the 

 \Vc-t Coast, in 1819; and the residencies of Ben- 

 coolen. I'lilcmhang, anil Ijimpong respectively in 

 1824, 1825. ami 1*57. Atjeh, Acliin, or Atcheen 

 (ij.v. ), only rabdaed after a long war (1875-79) ami 

 not yet pacified in 1892, was formed into a govern 

 nient in 1S8I. The total population of Sumatra 

 and the adjacent islands is estimated at 3,572,000 

 (Aehin, 440,000 1 west coa-t, l.-i:7..VMi-. East Coast, 

 450,(><M: llcncoolcn, l.M.siKi, &c.). Among the 

 more important centres of population are Padang 

 (150,000), Achin (10,000), Bencoolen (12,000). ;tnd 

 Palemliang (43,000). 



For literature on Sumatra, nee Aardr\jk*kvndi(i 

 Woordmboek van Ned. //. ilsc.il); Kan in Ttjdirhri'ft 

 van het K. Ned. Anr,l. <:,. HKS'.I). See especially 

 Marxlcn's clawical work. The ffittnry nf tl,r Inland of 

 itra (1783); the Mniinir of Sir Stamford Raffle*; 

 v.-th, Middrn-Snnvitra (IHS'J); KicUtra, Aljrh Oorlop 

 (1886-86); Wallace, Indian ArcHiprlayo ; Forbes. A 

 Ifaturaliifi Wandtringt in Ilir K Archiprlaiio (1H86); 

 Hagen, 'Die Pflannan- and Tierwelt von Deli uf der 

 inte Huraatnui,' in Tijdt. ran hrt It. Aard. Oen, 

 ( 1X110). Kcr.-nt explorations are those of Schouw- 

 .Hantvoort (1877), Brenner- Felsaoh (1887), and Izerniann 



. , 



l0d ID tin- U.S. lit J. K. 

 Llppiooou Compuijr. 



Snilllmwa. one of the chain of the Sunda 

 Islands to the east of Java, lies between Lomliok 

 (on the west) and Flora (on the east). Area, 

 5192 si|. m. ; pop. altout 150,000, all Malays and 

 Mohammedans. They are divided, between four 

 native rulers, who owe allegiance to the Dutch 

 governor of Celebes. The islands are mountain- 

 ous but fertile, and yield rice, tobacco, cotton, 

 samlalwooil, \-c. In 1815 an eruption of TamlMira, 

 the loftiest peak on the island, whereby the alti- 

 tude was decreased from 14,000 to 7670 feet, de- 

 populated the kingdoms of Tamlwra and Papekat, 

 12,000 lives being lost, and great damage .lone to 

 the whole island by the ashes. Another eruption 

 took place in 1836, and one of another peak, 

 i. u m. ng A pi. in 1860. though with little loss. 



Kuuiir. See BABYLONIA, Vol. I. p. 631. 



Summer Isles, a group of twenty rocky islets 

 off the west coast of Scotland, near the entrance of 

 Loch Broom, an inlet in the north west of Koss 

 shire. The largest, Tanera, measuring If by 1J 

 mile, rises 406 feet, and has 11!) inhabitants. 



Summons, in English law, means generally a 

 writ or order directed to a party to appear and 

 answer some complaint before a court or judge. 

 All actions in the High Court now l-gin with the 

 issue of a writ of summons. A summons is usually 

 the ftrst step in summary proceedings before magis- 

 trates. In Scotland the lirst writ in an action is 

 called a summons ; and the term is also in use in 

 the colonies and in the United States. 



Sunnier. CHAHI.KS, orator and statesman, was 

 born in Boston, Jan. 6, 1811. The founder of the 

 family in America was \\ illiam 

 Sunnier, a native of Oxfordshire 

 ill England, who settled in Mas- 

 sachusetts about 1635. Charles Pinckney Sunnier, 

 of whose nine children Charles and his twin-sister 

 Matilda were the eldest born, held the post of 

 sheriff of Suffolk county from 1825 till shortly 

 Ixjfore his death in 1839, and was highly resjiected 

 for his probity and independent spirit, despite his 

 stiff and formal manners and his outspoken anti- 

 slavery sentiments at a time when such opinions 

 were generally unpopular and were rarely expressed 

 by persons in official station. Educated at the 

 Boston Latin School and at Harvard College, where 

 he graduated in 1830, Charles Sunnier entered the 

 law-school in the following year, and in 1834 was 

 admitted to the bar. An enthusiastic student of 

 the principles of law, he had little taste for the 

 ordinary routine of office work, and hence, though 

 occasionally engaged in important ca-c-. he tailed 

 to secure a remunerative practice or to acquire 

 reputation as a pleader. He found more congenial 

 employment as a lecturer on legal topics and a 



contributor to law journals and compilations. In 



private life he was greatly esteemed for his linoerity 

 and earnestness, his general cultivation, his .stain- 

 less character, and his cheerful an 1 kindly de- 

 meanour, though too devoid of humour, wit, and 

 playful fancy to become a favourite ill ordinary 

 social circle's.' In December is:)" he went to Europe, 

 where he remained till May IS4(I, punning with nil 

 habitual assiduity the stiidy of jurisprudence at 

 the SorlHiniie and' elsewhere! widening the general 

 range of his knowledge, and cultivating the 

 acquaintance, especially in England, of the most 

 eminent men, of whom his letters at this period, 

 published since bis death, give many graphic 

 sketches and lively anecdotes. I In his return to 

 Boston he resumed his professional practice, but 

 with even less liking for the drudgery of its details 

 than he had before evinced. Abstract discus-ion 

 had stronger attractions for him, and he first came 



into prominei by a civic oration, on July 4, 



1845, which, under the title of ' The True Crandeur 



