SUMATRA 201 



Not long after the occupation of Singapore by the 

 British, the Dutch established a post on Ehio Island, on 

 the south-east side of Bintang. Originally designed to 

 counteract the trade of Singapore, it has merely added to 

 it, but has itself also become prosperous. The archi- 

 pelago is the chief seat of the gambir trade, and some 

 millions of pounds of this commodity are annually ex- 

 ported. Black pepper is also much grown, and consider- 

 able quantities of the forest products — gutta, dammar, 

 wax, timber, etc. — find their way from here to the Singa- 

 pore markets. All this trade has caused a large influx 

 of Chinese and coast Malays, especially of the former, and 

 the port of Ehio is A'isited by the Dutch lines of steamers. 

 Innumerable ships pass through the Ehio Strait, for it is 

 now the recognised highway in both monsoons for vessels 

 proceeding eastwards, or bound through the Strait of 

 Sunda. 



The only post of the Dutch in the southern group is 

 upon Lingga, where an Assistant Eesident is established. 

 The town is very prettily situated beneath a striking 

 peak, upon a river nearly a mile from the sea, and con- 

 tains 7000 or 8000 inhabitants, the Chinese having 

 substantial houses of stone. The produce is chiefly 

 rattans, gambir, and pepper. Gold is obtained in small 

 quantities, but tin has not yet been discovered, although 

 it occurs in the neighbouring island of Singkep. Tlie 

 Ehio-Lingga Archipelago, together with the valley of the 

 Indragiri river on the opposite shore of Sumatra, and 

 the Anamba and Natuna Islands northwest of Borneo, 

 forms the political district known as " Ehio and its 

 Dependencies." 



(4) Bangka (Banca or Banka) is situated opposite the 

 eastern coast of Palembang, from which it is separated 

 by a long strait of a tolerably uniform width of 15 



