vi P R E F A G E. 
Thefe objeclians, whicli feem to have hitherto proved unfur- 
aiountable with fuch as might have been inclined to attempt 
ail hifloiy on Sumatra, would alfo have deterred me from an 
undertaking apparently fo arduous ; had I not refle(5ted, that 
thofe circuraftances in which confifted the principal difficulty, 
were in fad the leaft interefting to the public, and of the leaft 
utility in themfelves. It is of but fmall importance, the de- 
termining with precifion, whether a few villages on this or that 
particular river, belong to one petty chief or to another; whether 
fuch a nation is divided into a greater or leffer number of tribes; 
or which of two neighbouring pnwerc originally did homage to 
the other for it's title, Hiftory is only to be prized, as it tends 
to improve our knowledge of mankind, to which fuch invef- 
tigations contribute in a very fmall degree. I have there- 
fore attempted rather to give a comprehenfive, than a cir- 
cumftantial defcription of the divifions of the coimtry into it s 
various governments j aiming at a more particular detail, in what 
refpe6:s the cuftoms, opinions, arts, and induflry of the original 
inhabitants, in their moft genuine ftate. The interefls of the Eu- 
ropean powers who have eftablifhed themfelvcs on the iiland; the 
hiftory of their fettlements, and of the revolutions of their com- 
merce, I have not confidered as forming a part of my plan; 
but thofe fubjefts, as conneded with the accounts of the native 
inhabitants, and the hiftory of their governments, are occafio- 
nally introduced. 
I was 
