EXPEDITION INTO INTERIOR OF SUMATRA. Al 
India. Until Marspen’s time the extent of the important king- 
dom of Palembang was little known, but the wars and military 
operations on a small scale which were the inevitable result of 
the collapse of the Sultanate and submission to the Netherlands 
authority, have, within the last half-century, increased our 
information with regard to this inportant country. To this 
the writings of Sarasa PRESGRAVE, CoURT, DE STUERLER 
Prurorrvs, GRAMBERG, TRrYSMAN, Wanbacn, Mounick and 
DE Pruys Van pER Horven have especially contributed. 
On the North of Palembang, are situated the kingdoms of 
Djambi, Indragiri and Kampar, of which the first is reckoned 
Us a dependency of Palembang. The second is tributary to 
the Sultan of Lingga and consequently considers itself as with- 
in the jurisdiction of the Riouw Residency, whilst Kampar, 
formerly part of the ancient kingdom of Siak, now acknow- 
ledges the authority of the Residency of the Hast Coast of 
Sumatra. This part of the interior had never, previously to 
to our Expedition, been thoroughly explored, and of the two 
rivers—Kampar, and Indragiri or Kouantan—our specific 
knowledge was fanaa to their mouths and the immediate 
vicinity. ‘The Residency on the Hast Coast embraced 
in 1873 the dependencies of the ancient Sultanate of Siak ; 
after that date many now highly flourishing agricultural 
undertakings were established, chiefly at Deli and Langkat, 
and our acquaintance with this part of the island has thus 
been increased. Finally, the circumstance to which science 
is indebted for so much information with regard to the an- 
cient kingdom of Acheen and its people, is no other, alas, 
than the long war with all its attendant evils, which is 
now said to be over, ace by no means as- 
sured, owing to the spirit of hatred existing amongst the 
vanquished, Sumatra now belongs wholly to Netherlands 
India. In reality, however, there is in the centre and on the 
Hast Coast, a large extent of country in which therule of the 
Netherlands is still a fiction, but even there its influence has 
been daily extending for some years. 
The Coast of Acheen in the North; Tapanouli and the 
West Coast, downto the borders of Mount Bari isan; Benkoulen, 
the Lampon g districts and Palembang to the “South ; the 
Coasts of Siak, Deli and Langkat to the N, H,—these, gentle- 
