687 
SUMATRA. 
The high priest may sum the silver brought in. 2 Kings. 
—To comprise; to comprehend; to collect into a narrow 
compass. 
So lovely fair! 
That what seem’d fair in all the world, seem’d now 
Mean, or in her summ'd up, in her contain’d. Milton. 
[In Falconry.] To have feathers full grown.—With pros¬ 
perous wing full summ'd. Milton. 
SUMA, a small river of Guiana, which rises in the coun¬ 
try of the Carab Indians, and enters the Caroni. 
SU'MACH-TREE, s. [sumach, Fr.] A plant. The 
flowers are used in dyeing. 
SUMAGE, Sumagium, or Summagium, in our Old 
Writers, toll for carriage on horseback. “ Pro uno equo 
portante summagium per dimidium ann. obolum. Chart, 
de Forest, c. 14. 
SUMANYSTOWN, a post village of the United States, in 
Montgomery county, Pennsylvania; 33 miles north-north-west 
of Philadelphia. 
SUMAPAMPA, a settlement of South America, in the 
province of Tucuman, on the shore of the Rio Doce. 
SUMAPAZ, a large and abundant river of New Granada, 
which rises in the interior mountains, and running north, 
unites itself with the Pasca, and their united stream enters the 
Magdalena. 
SUMARA, in Music, a sort of flute with two pipes, one 
of which, the shorter, is used for playing airs, and the 
longer, in a continued bass; just like the long pipe in the 
Bulgarian bagpipe. 
SUMARA, a mountain of Yemen, in Arabia; 6 miles 
south-west of Jerim. 
SUMAREIN, Somerein, or Somorja, a large market 
town in the west of Hungary; 12 miles south-east of Pres- 
burg, in the isle of Schutt. It has a monastery of Paulinists, 
the only one in Hungary, and extensive manufactures of 
stone-ware. The village called Waste-Sumarein, is in the 
palatinate of Wieselburg. 
SUMASINTLA, a river of Mexico, which rises in the 
mountains of Chiapa; 20 miles south of Sacatulan, and 
which falls into the gulf of Mexico, near the isthmus of 
Yucatan. 
SUMATRA, a large island in the Eastern seas, the most 
western of that immense collection of islands which are so 
thickly scattered over the ocean from the coasts of New Hol¬ 
land and New Guinea to the coast of China on the east, and 
westward to the Malayan peninsula. It is divided obliquely 
by the equator into almost equal parts, and its general direc¬ 
tion is north-west and south-east. The one extremity is in 
Lat. 5. 56. north, and the other 5. 56. south. In respect to 
relative position, its northern point stretches into the bay of 
Bengal; its south-west coast is exposed to the great Indian 
ocean; towards the south it is separated by the straits of 
Sundafrom the island of Java; on the east, by the com¬ 
mencement of the Eastern and China seas, from Borneo and 
other islands; and on the north-east by the straits of Malac¬ 
ca, from the Malayan peninsula. Its length may be estima¬ 
ted at 1050 miles, by 165 miles the average breadth. Among 
the eastern people generally and the better informed of the 
natives, this island is known by the names of Pulo Purichu 
and Indalas; the origin of the term Sumatra is uncertain. 
By Marco Polo it is called Java Minor. 
A chain of mountains runs through the whole extent of 
this island, and the ranges are in many parts double and tre¬ 
ble. The height of these mountains has never been accu¬ 
rately ascertained. Mount Ophir, situated immediately under 
the equinoctial line, is supposed to be the highest visible 
from the sea, its summit being elevated 13,842 feet above 
that level. These mountains, though of great height, do not 
reach the limit of perpetual snow under the equator; and 
there is no positive account of snow having ever been seen 
among them. Among these ridges of mountains are exten¬ 
sive plains of great elevation, and of a temperate climate; and 
from this advantage they are esteemed the most eligible por¬ 
tion of the country, are consequently the best inhabited, and 
the most cleared from woods, which elsewhere in general 
throughout Sumatra, cover both hills and valleys with an 
eternal shade. Here too are found many large and beautiful 
lakes, that extend, at intervals, through the heart of the coun¬ 
try, and facilitate the communication between its different 
parts. 
The mountains which run through the whole extent of the 
island of Sumatra, are much nearer the western than the oppo¬ 
site coast, being, on the former, seldom so much as 20 miles 
from the sea, while, on the eastern side, the extent of the 
level country cannot be less than 150 miles. In consequence 
of this position of the mountains, all the greatest rivers are 
found on the eastern side of the island. These are Siak, 
Indragiri, Jambi, and Palembang. These rivers roll a large 
body of water into the ocean, and having a large space for 
the formation of their respective streams, they generally flow 
with an even and steady course. They labour, however, 
under this inconvenience, that scarcely any, except the larg¬ 
est, run out to sea in a direct course. The continual action 
of the surf, more powerful than the ordinary course of the 
stream, throws up at their mouths a bank of sand, which, in 
many instances, has the effect of diverting their course to a 
direction parallel with the shore, between the cliffs and the 
beach, until the accumulated waters at length force their way 
wherever there is found the weakest resistance. In the 
southerly monsoon, when the surfs are usually highest, and 
the streams, from the dryness of the weather, least rapid, this 
parallel course is of the greatest extent. As the rivers swell 
with the rain, they gradually remove obstructions, and re¬ 
cover their natural channel. The rivers on the western coast 
having a shorter course, are not so large ; though the Kataun, 
Inarapura, Tabuyong, and Sinkel, are considerable streams. 
They derive also a material advantage from the shelter given 
to them by the peninsula of Malacca and Borneo, Banca, and 
the other islands of the archipelago, which, breaking the 
force of the sea, prevent the surf from forming those bars that 
choke the entrance of the south-western rivers, and render 
them impracticable to boats of any considerable draught of 
water. 
The climate of Sumatra varies, of course, with the height 
of the ground. Even on the plains, however, the heat is not 
so intense as might be expected in a country situated imme¬ 
diately under the line; the thermometer, even at the most 
sultry heat, which is about two in the afternoon, generally 
fluctuating between 82 and 85 degrees in the shade. At 
Fort Marlborough, Mr. Marsden mentions that he never ob¬ 
served it, in any case, rise higher than 86 degrees in the 
shade, although at Natal, in Lat. 0. 34. north, it is not un- 
frequently at 87 and 88 degrees ; at sun-rise it is usually as 
low as 70. The sensation of cold, however, is much greater 
than this would seem to indicate, as it occasions shivering 
and a chattering of the teeth ; doubtless from the greater re¬ 
laxation of the body and openness of the pores in that cli¬ 
mate ; since the same temperature in England would be es¬ 
teemed a considerable degree of warmth. These observations 
on the state of the air apply only to the districts near the sea- 
coast, where, from their comparatively low situation, and the 
greater compression of the atmosphere, the sun’s rays operate 
more powerfully. Inland, as the country ascends, the de¬ 
gree of heat decreases rapidly, insomuch, that beyond the 
first range of hills, the inhabitants find it expedient to light 
fires in the morning,and continue them till the day is advan¬ 
ced, for the purpose of warming themselves; a practice un¬ 
known in the other parts of the island; and in the journal of 
Lieutenant Dare’s expedition it appears, that during one 
night’s halt on the summit of a mountain, in the rainy season, 
he lost several of his party from the severity of the weather, 
whilst the thermometer was not lower than 40 degrees. 
Frost, snow, or hail, are unknown to the inhabitants in any 
quarter. The hill people in the country of Lampong speak 
of a peculiar kind of rain which falls there, which some 
have supposed to be sleet; but the fact is not sufficiently es¬ 
tablished. The atmosphere is in general more cloudy thah 
in Europe. The fog, called Kabut by the natives, which is 
observed to rise every morning among the distant hills, is 
dense 
