346 OCCASIONAL NO'TES. 



This Government has the following sub-divisions : — 



(a) Padang Lower Counties (Padangsche Beneden- 



landen). Chief place, Padang 



(b) Padang Upland Counties (Padangsche Bovelan- 



den). Chief place, Fort de Kock. 



(c) Tapanuli (Tapian Na Uli). Chief place, Padang 



Sidempuan. 



The Governor of the West Coast is subordinate to the 

 Governor-General in Batavia. The Upland Counties and 

 Tapanuli are administered by Residents, who are subordinate 

 to the Governor of the West Coast. 



The Residencies contain smaller districts, with Assistant 

 Residents as Chief Magistrates, under whom there are again 

 lesser sub-divisions under Controllers. 



The West Coast is a very rich and thickly populated coun- 

 try. Being, however, very mountainous, and without navi- 

 gable rivers, and traversed by two chains of high mountains 

 running almost parallel to each other, road-making is difficult, 

 and the country has as yet hardly been able to develop its 

 very rich resources. Vast coal-fields of very superior coal, 

 equal to the best English coal, discovered in 1870, have not 

 yet been opened up, as the question of a railway to the coast 

 still rerhains unsettled. The coal-fields are estimated to con- 

 tain about 200 million tons of coal, half of which could be 

 worked by open galleries. 



2. Residency of Benkoelen, 455 geographical square miles 

 under direct Dutch rule. Chief place, Benkoelen. 



3. Residency of the Lampong Districts, 47,569 miles, 

 under direct Dutch rule. Chief place, Telok Betong. 



4. Residency of Palembang, under direct Dutch rule, 

 2,558 square miles. Chief place, Palembang. 



The Resident of Palembang has also to watch the affairs of 

 the Sultanate of Djambi, which continue to be governed by a 

 Sultan with a Dutch Political Agent. The Dutch have taken 

 possession merely of the Coast port — Muara Kompeh — where 

 they keep a small garrison, and levy import and export duties. 



The present Sultan, being a mominee of the Dutch Govern- 

 ment, is no favourite with his people, who continue to side 



