SUMATKA 157 



At some period to which it is impossible to' assign a date, 

 the southern part was largely colonised from Java, and 

 the two kingdoms of ]\Ienangkabo and Palembang estab- 

 lished, or at all events largely peopled. That this was 

 long anterior to the advent of the Europeans is evident 

 from the fact that Malacca was a colony founded by 

 settlers from Palembang, and that the former city had 

 been in existence for more than 200 years before its fall 

 in 1511. The Portuguese never succeeded in establish- 

 ing themselves in Sumatra any more than in Java, 

 although they had many unimportant trading settlements, 

 and were involved in many small wars with the natives. 

 The Dutch first came in 1598, and in 1685 the Eng- 

 lish, driven by them out of Bantam in Java, built a fort 

 and factory at Benkulen. This was not, however, their 

 first acquaintance with the island, for Sir James Lancas- 

 ter, with a fleet of four vessels, had already borne a 

 letter from Queen Elizabeth to the King of Ache in 

 1602, and had concluded a friendly treaty with him. 

 The British tenure of Benkulen lasted until 1824, when 

 the settlement was handed over to the Dutch in exchange 

 for Malacca, after an expensive and useless occupation 

 of 140 years. The history of the Dutch in Sumatra is 

 that of slow but steady progress in the acquisition of 

 territory, although the Ache war, which has lasted over 

 twenty years, shows at present no sign of termination. 



3. G-eology, Orography, etc. 



The physical structure of Sumatra is a combination 

 of that of Java with that of the Malay peninsula. The 

 great mountain masses appear to be composed largely 

 of Palseozoic rocks; slates, and clay schists, etc., and much 



