214 
VOYAGE OF THE POTOMAC. 
[February, 
low land, over which are spread out, in extensive cultivation, the 
pepper plantations. 
On the twenty-sixth of April, seventeen hundred and ninety- 
eight, Captain Joseph Ropes, in the ship Recovery, left Salem, 
bound direct for Mocha, Arabia Felix, and arrived in that port on 
the ninth of September. This was the first American vessel that 
ever displayed the stripes and stars in that part of the world. 
The captain, who is still living, informed us that the arrival of 
the strange ship was viewed with great interest by the authorities, 
who could not divine from whence she came, and made frequent 
inquiries to know how many moons she had been coming. The 
same captain visited Padang, Sumatra, in eighteen hundred ; 
found the natives well disposed, and was very successful in pro- 
curing a cargo of pepper. 
We shall notice but one more of these early voyages, as the 
trade had already assumed much importance, and many vessels 
were now in the business. The ship Putnam sailed from Salem, 
November twenty-first, eighteen hundred and two. An idea of 
the rapid growth of the trade may be inferred from the fact, that 
during the same year, no less than thirty American vessels, 
generally small, visited the coast, seeking cargoes of pepper. 
The range of ports on the west side had proportionably increased, 
such as Analaboo, Soo-soo, Tangar, North Tally Pow, besides 
several smaller ports. From Analaboo were shipped a thousand 
piculs; Soo-soo, eighteen-hundred piculs ; Tangar, fifteen hundred 
piculs ; North Tally Pow, five thousand six hundred piculs ; 
Laboan Hadjee, eight thousand piculs ; Muckie, eighteen hundred 
piculs. Soo-soo and Muckie were at that time the most important 
ports on the coast. 
From this period up to the time of the interruptions occasioned 
by the late war with Great Britain, the trade on the coast of Su- 
matra was regularly prosecuted by our merchants, from several 
ports of the United States, Salem always taking the lead. We 
cannot conclude this chapter, therefore, without again recurring to 
the space this latter place has filled in the commercial history of 
our country. In the revolutionary struggles, Salem took a decided 
and early stand. When the port of Boston was shut by an act 
of the British parliament, in retaliation for the destruction of the 
tea which the Bostonians had thrown overboard, the merchants of 
