PREFACE. 
'^JI HE illaad of Sumatra, which, m point of fituation and ex- 
teat, holds a confpicuous rank on the terraqueous globe, and is 
furpaffed by few in the bountiful indulgences of nature, has in 
all ages been unaccountably neglefted by writers y infomuch 
ttat It is at this day left known, as to the interior parts more 
efpecially, tnan iln. icw*ot«ft if land of modern difcovery; al- 
though it has been conftantly reforted to by Europeans, for fome 
centuries, and the Englifli have had a regular eftablifhment there> 
for the I aft hundred years* It is true that the commercial im- 
portance of Sumatra has much declined. It is no longer the Em- 
porium of Eaftern riches, whither the traders of the Weft re- 
forted with their cargoes, to exchange them for the precious 
merchandize of the Indian Archipelago : nor Joes it boaft now 
the political confequence it acquired, when the rapid progrefs of 
the Portuguefe fucceflfcs there flrft received a check. That enter-* 
prizing people who caufed fo many kingdoms to Ihrhik from the 
terror of their arms, met with nothing but difgrace in their 
attempts againft Acheen, whofe monarchs made them tremble in 
their turns. Yet ft ill the importance of this ifland, in the eye of 
the natural hiftorian, has continued undimini{hed, and has equally 
at all periods, laid claim to an attention, that does not appear, at 
any, to have been paid to it. 
b The 
• 
