SUMATRA 



5622 



SUMMERLAND 



the foliage of this sumac is a wonderful com- 

 bination of flaming scarlet, orange and purple, 

 but the summer leaf is velvety, dark-green 

 above and pale beneath. The branches of the 

 tree are forked many times, and before it is 

 mature they are covered with a soft, velvety 

 down. The fruit clusters and leafstalks ^re 

 extremely hairy. From the soft, brittle wood 

 are made walking sticks and inlay work for 

 boxes and ornamental objects. Not less at- 

 tractive than the staghorn is the dwarj, black 

 or mountain sumac, found all over the Eastern 

 United States and beyond the Mississippi River 

 west to the Rockies. In the Tennessee and 

 North Carolina mountains it grows as tall as 

 the staghorn, but is usually a shrub. As its 

 leaves are rich in tannin they are employed in 

 tanning leather, and from them is extracted a 

 yellow dyestuff. 



A sumac bearing white berries is found in 

 swampy land from New England to Minnesota 

 and from Georgia to Texas. This is the poison 

 sumac, which all people should aVoid. Like 

 its harmless relatives, it is a tree of beautiful 

 foliage, but can always be recognized by its 

 fruit, which hangs in drooping clusters. The 

 red berries of the harmless sumacs are in dense, 

 erect clusters. The smooth-leaved sumac, which 

 usually grows only three feet high, is a species 

 found east of the Rocky Mountains, from Ari- 

 zona to British Columbia. The unripe summer 

 berries are used in making a refreshing drink, 

 and the bark, leaves and fruit are used in treat- 

 ing fevers. 



Among the sumacs of the eastern hemisphere 

 are the Venetian, a plant used in Italy for 

 tanning; the elm-leaved, whose fruit is valued 

 as a condiment; the Japan varnish tree, which 

 yields a varnish used in lacquer work, and a 

 seed oil employed in making candles; and an 

 Australian species whose wood is much valued 

 by furniture makers. M.K. 



SUMATRA , soo mah ' tra, the second largest 

 island of the Sunda group, in the Indian Ocean, 

 one of those rich Oriental lands which con- 

 tribute their wealth to European owners and 

 rulers. In this instance the proprietor is the 

 Netherlands. (See map, accompanying article 

 ASIA or article OCEANIA.) Lying across the 

 equator, southwest of the Malayan peninsula, 

 having an area of 180,000 square miles, Sumatra 

 resembles California in shape and is about 

 20,000 square miles larger than that American 

 state. However, Sumatra's population, which is 

 4,029,000, of which number less than one per 

 cent are Europeans, is about double that of 



California. The mountains are rich in min- 

 erals; the forests furnish teakwood, bamboo 

 and valuable gums; in the fertile valleys grow 

 the pepper and tobacco of Sumatra's important 

 European and Chinese trade. 



Inhabited by several different savage tribes 

 of Malayan and Hindu origin, one of which, 

 the Kubu, is the most uncivilized tribe known, 

 the island has presented many governmental 

 difficulties to the Dutch, who have held Su- 

 matra as a colony since 1600. Europe first 

 heard of Sumatra through a Portuguese ex- 

 plorer in 1508, and the first European trading 

 posts on the island belonged to Portugal. In 

 the seventeenth century the British founded a 

 colony on the southwest coast, but after a long 

 period of rivalry with the Dutch, they withdrew 

 in 1824. 



The Dutch governor-general, assisted by a 

 council and the resident governors of the va- 

 rious districts, has absolute authority, except 

 that he is responsible to the home government. 

 The natives take little part in governmental 

 and commercial affairs, and are chiefly occupied 

 in cultivating the soil, raising cattle, fishing and 

 in gathering the riches of the forests for white 

 men. 



There are few large cities; the most impor- 

 tant of these are Palembang, in the southeast, 

 and Bencoolen and Padang, on the west coast. 

 Dutch engineers have built highways connect- 

 ing the east and west coasts, military roads and 

 two railroad lines from Padang. E.B.P. 



Consult Cabaton's Java, Sumatra and the Other 

 Islands of the Dutch East Indies. 



SUMMERLAND, sum' er land, a town in 

 Southern British Columbia, It is prettily situ- 

 ated on the west shore of Okanagan Lake, ten 

 miles by steamer north of Penticton, which is 

 at the foot of the lake. At Penticton connec- 

 tion is made with the Kettle Valley Railway, 

 and at Okanagan Landing, ninety-four miles 

 north of Summerland by steamer, with a Cana- 

 dian Pacific branch which runs to the main line 

 at Sicamous. Population in 1916, about 2,000. 



Like Penticton and other towns in the 

 Okanagan Valley, Summerland is a large fruit- 

 producing center, especially for peaches. Mixed 

 farming and cattle raising is carried on a few 

 miles away from the lake, but the front land 

 is too valuable for these pursuits. Lumbering 

 is an important industry in the vicinity, and 

 the town makes large quantities of fruit boxes 

 and crates. A Dominion experimental farm 

 adjoins Summerland on the south. The electric 

 light and water plants, as well as the irrigation 



