.S U M A T R A. 
liihed in the year that th^ir firft expedition to Sumatra was fitted out ; 
ill which Cataiaj or China, is defer ibed as an illand*, 
Sumatra 
■* For tlie gratificatidn of the curious nmier, I ihall {ah]o\a the following txtfaSs, reiative to 
tht ajicicnt name of Syroatra, from thofe authbritfes which I have had occafion to confult m the 
courfc of my inveftigatioii of that fubjeft. 
Voyage of Arab* to Ijidia and China, r 1 73. An eaftcrn ifland called Rwfmi i governed by 
many kin^s : eight or nine hundrcJ leagues in length : gold mines : camphirt : many iflands 
o«r it ; one of the largeft called El nian (qu : Nees) : ufe coconut oil : hare many elephants 1 
fapanwood: cat human flcfh-'* — ^Herbclot. Bihliothiquc oritntalc, 1^97. " Soiarmab or S9- 
Mritmht an Ifland in the Chinefe Sea, iCoont which are many fmall ones uniohabiced. Sea very 
tempeftuous* Soundings generally forty fathoms, ScherilF Al EdretH wrkes, ia the tenth part 
t5f his firft climate, that the bcft camphire of the caft is coUea^d here. This iflc is moH probably 
Sumatra ; the Arabians calling all that fca and land which is to the caftward of Cape Cnmorin, 
the fea and land of China, Some fteo^raphm t&n^V .w *i^*c-r'-* h^^^^ «f wood aloes, 
comes from the ifle of SemeaJct t ivhidi may be what we call Sumatra. Rami i a rich country,, 
beajingthc tree called Bacem by the Arabs, and bj us Bajilwoad (fappan)^ and where you fmd 
the animal which the Arabs and Perfians name KtrketJ^i (rhinoccros)i i$ an ifland fevcn hutidrcd 
leagues in length j and diflant atout three days fail from Serendib, which we believe to be 
ZciJan. D 'tb or di'^^ in ihe Indian language, fignSfies an ifland. Edrefli fays that the Chinefe 
uftd to carry on a great traffic 10 Scremdib*— There is rcafon to doubt tlicir having ever paSbd 
Acheen— In the geographia NubienTu (quoted by Herbclot), the illand called MrmBi fcems to 
anfwxr l>eft to Sumatra, escept in its proximity to Serendib, being ten days fail inftead of three. 
Sabarm&t ha$ the next claim j and lafllly Sanutudury which though the neareft in name, ftarccly 
«grtes at aU in fituation, being faid to lie «#^r the G^s^f Jones, Dcfcription of Afia, 1773. 
Farther eailward arc the iflands of Semandar ; Rami or Lmner'h which may, perhaps, be Java, 
tjrsough, by the accounts of it^ one would take it for the fame wiib Samander } and then Alki~ 
fitmuttt will be Je'vat aiid Mehrfigi or Sabdrmaby BffrffM"— Marco Paulo, 1169. " Beyond Pctan, 
fleering towards the fouth, at thediftance of thirty three leagues, is Java n^-*" —the difcription 
of which anrwers 10 auimn.!*.— vjauncus, as inenttoncd in Hackluit, t, p. 45. ** In the 
year iS5t» Odoricus, a fiiar, was in Java: the firft European that peirced into India and re- 
turned"* (Marco Paulo ^n exception) — Herbert, Oderic calli Sumatra, Mandcville, 
1400, Bcfidc the ylle of Lmery is another that is clept Sumaber j and faft befide, a great yfle 
clcpt Java** — Nicoli dc Conti. 1449. RamuGp gives a good account of Sumatra under the n:une 
of Ta/'fifiianit and particularly mentions fome extraordinary cuftoms, now wrll afceitained, of the 
pcople^ — limeraritim Portngallcnfium in fndiam, printed 1508, but written, apparently, 
fome years fooner. ** Lacham mittit oppidum di^um Samottrra, ultra Calechut Icucis ccccc'% 
« Pnctcria in hoc mari Indico complures infulre vifuntur, et inter alias duae font quae caeteras 
orani rerum celebritate prrfiam. — Altera Sayla dicitur, qua abeft ab diflho capitc Comar M 
prope c c— Poft banc, ad oricntem, altera vifitur qu^ dicltur Sam&trat nos Taprobanum appclla- 
m^*p qu^ abeA ab urbe Calechut itinere idiitQ menfium. Ultra cam. eft Cataium feraciiEma, ut 
di£iuio 
