SUMATRA, 
the fpot where the deputies Ihould meet, and propofe terms of accoiftmo- 
dation j till at length the parties, weary of their fruitlefs contefts, agreed 
to place themfelves refpc^tively, under the dependance and protection 
of the Company. This mull not be underftood of the kingdoms of 
Meimngeal cw and Jci?een, but of the fettlers of thefe nations in the vi- 
cinicy of NataL 
f 
Religion, pcople of Memffgcdhow, are all Mahometans^ and In that refpe^ 
diftinguiftied from the other internal Inhabitants of the ifland. This 
country is looked upon as the fupreme feat of that reVigion-, and next 
to a voyage to Mecca ; which fome Sumatra ns have undertaken ; to 
have been at Mmangcabow^ ftamps a man learned and of fuperior fandtity. 
The chief immums, moutanas^ mt'ihs, and pmdsttas^ either proceed from 
thence, or vifit it, and bring away a dcploma, or certificate of degree, 
from the fultan or his miniftcrs. How it has happened that the moft 
ancient, and the moft central kingdom in the illand, fhould have be- 
come the moft perfedly Mahometans, is a point difficult to account 
for; unlcfs we fuppofe that the circumflance of its importance, and 
the richnefs of its gold trade, naturally drew thither its pious converters, 
Period of ton- from remporril as « c]l as rijuuual mottvcs. In attempting to afcertain 
r>omc"atiii!!!^" thc pctiod of this convcr£jon of the Sumatrans, much accuracy cannot 
be expe6:ed : the natives are ignorant on the fubjedt, and we can only 
approximate to the truth, by comparing the authorities of different old 
writers. John de Barros^ a Poruiguefc hiftorian of great information, 
fays, that according to the tradition of the inhabitants, the city of Ma- 
lacca was founded about two hundred and fifty years before the arrival 
of his countr)'men in that part of India, or about the year 1260, by a 
Javan of the name of P^ramif&ra and his fon Xachem Darxa^ and that in 
the reigns of their fiicceflbrs the people began by degrees to be con- 
verted to Mahomenatifm, by Perji n and G'iZtrat merchants who re- 
forted thither; fo that about an hundred and fifty years before the date 
of his writing, or in the beginning of the fifteenth century, that faith 
had fpread confiderably, and extended itfelf to the neighbouring iflands. 
Diogo do CoutQ^ another celebrated hiitorian, who profecuted his enqui- 
ries 
