THE 
HISTORY 
O F 
SUMATRA. 
Unknonm to iha jinA^nft — Situation — Name — Gt neral Dcfcriptmi 
of the Country^ its Mountains^ Lakes and Rivers — jfir and 
Meteors — Moonfoons, and Landy and Sea-Brees^es — Minerals and 
Fojils—Vokanos— Earthquakes — Surfs and Tides, 
Jf antiquity holds up to m fomc models, m different arts and fciencea^ 
which have been found inimitable ; the moderns, on the other hand, 
have carried their inventions and improvements, in a variety of inftan- 
cesj to an extent and a degree of perfc^lion, which the former could 
entertain no conception of. Among ihofe difcoveries in which we have 
itepped fo fai nur mailers^ there is none more ftrikingj or more 
eminently ufeful, than the means which the ingenuity of Tome and the 
experience of others, have taught mankind, of determining with certainty 
and precifion the relative fituation of the various countries of the earth,- 
What was formerly the fubjeft of mere conjedhire, or at beft of vague 
and arbitrary computation, is now the clear rcfult of fettled rule, foun- 
ded upon principles dcmonftratively juft. It only remains for the libe- 
rality of princes and ftates, and the perfevering induftry of navigators 
and travellers, to effe<9: the application of thefe means to their proper end, 
by continuing to afcertain the unknown and uncertain pofitions of all the 
B part3 
