691 
SUMATRA. 
goods of Madras and Bengal. When bought at the settle¬ 
ments, it used formerly to be purchased at the rate of 3/. 5s, 
per ounce, but afterwards rose to 3/. 18s. which would yield 
no profit on exportation to Europe. In many parts of the 
country it is employed instead of coin, every man carrying 
a small pair of scales about with him. At Acheen small thin 
gold coins were formerly struck, but the coinage has been 
abandoned in modern times. Silver is not produced in Su¬ 
matra. Tin, which is found in the neighbouring island of 
Banca, is a very considerable article of trade; and a rich 
mine of copper is worked by the Acheenese, the ore of which 
yields half its original weight in pure metal. Iron ore is dug 
at a place named Turawang, in the eastern part of Menan- 
cabow, and there smelted, but not in large quantities, the 
consumption of the natives being amply supplied with Eng¬ 
lish and Swedish bar-iron, which they are in the practice of 
purchasing by measure instead of weight. Sulphur is 
abundantly procured from the numerous volcanoes, and 
especially from that very great one which is situated about 
a day’s journey inland from Priaman. Yellow arsenic is 
also an article of traffic. In the country of Kattaun, near 
the head of Urei river, there are extensive caves, from the 
soil of which saltpetre is extracted. M. Whalfeldt, who was 
employed as a surveyor, visited them in March 1773. Into 
one he advanced 743 feet, when his lights were extinguished 
by the damp vapour. Into a second he penetrated 600 feet, 
when, after getting through a confined passage, about three 
feet wide and five in height, an opening in the rock led to a 
spacious place 40 feet high. The edible birds-nest, so much 
celebrated as a peculiar luxury of the table, especially 
amongst the Chinese, is found in similar caves in different 
parts of the island, but chiefly near the sea-coast, and in the 
greatest abundance at its southern extremity. The birds 
resemble the common swallow, or rather perhaps the martin. 
The nests are distinguished into white and black, of which 
the first sort are by far the most scarce and valuable, and 
generally sell for nearly their weight in silver. The biche 
de mer is also an article of trade to Batavia and China, where 
it is employed in enriching soups and stews. Bees wax is a 
commodity of great importance in all the eastern islands, 
from whence it is exported, in large oblong cakes, to China, 
Bengal, and other parts of the continent. No pains are taken 
with the bees, which are left to settle where they list, gene¬ 
rally on the boughs of trees, and are never collected in hives. 
Their honey is much inferior to that of Europe, as might be 
expected from the nature of the vegetation. Gum-lac, called 
by the natives ampalu or ambalu , although found upon 
trees, and adhering strongly to the branches, is known to be 
the work of insects, as wax is of the bee. It is procured in 
small quantities from the country inland of Beucoolen ; but 
at Padang is a considerable article of trade. Foreign 
markets, however, are supplied from the countries of Siam 
Camboja. It is chiefly valued in Sumatra for the animal 
part, found in the nidus of the insect, which is soluble in 
water, and yields a very fine purple dye, used for colouring 
their silks and other webs of domestic manufacture. Like 
the cochineal, it would probably, with the addition of a 
solution of tin, become a good scarlet. The forests abound¬ 
ing with elephants, ivory is consequently found in abund¬ 
ance, and is carried both to the China and Europe markets. 
The animals themselves were formerly the objects of a con¬ 
siderable traffic from Acheen to the coast of Coromandel, or 
kling country, and vessels were built expressly for their 
transport; but it has declined, or perhaps ceased altogether, 
from the change which the system of warfare has undergone, 
since the European tactics have been imitated by the princes 
of India. The large roes of a species of fish said to be like 
the shad, but more probably of the mullet kind, taken in 
great quantities at the mouth of Siak river, are salted and 
exported from thence to all the Malayan countries, where 
they are eaten with boiled rice, and esteemed a delicacy. 
The most general articles of import trade are the following: 
—From the coast of Coromandel various cotton goods, as 
long-cloth, blue and white, chintz and coloured handker¬ 
chiefs, of which those manufactured at Pulicat are the most 
prized; and salt: from Bengal, muslins, striped and plain, 
and several other kinds of cotton goods, as cossaes, baftaes, 
hummums, &c., taffetas and some other silks; and opium in 
considerable quantities: from the Malabar coast, various 
cotton goods, mostly of a coarse raw fabric: from Ceina, 
coarse porcelain kwalis or iron pans, in sets of various sizes; 
tobacco shred very fine; gold thread, fans, and a number of 
small articles: from Celebes (known here by the names of 
its chief provinces, Nangkasar, Bugis, and Mandar), Java, 
Balli, Ceram, and other eastern islands, the rough striped 
cotton cloth called lcain sarong, or vulgarly bugis clouting, 
being the universal body dress of the natives; krisesand 
other weapons; silken krisbelts, hats, small pieces of ord¬ 
nance, commonly of brass, called rantaka; spices, and 
also salt of a large grain, and sometimes rice chiefly from 
Balli; from Europe, silver, iron, steel, lead, cutlery, various 
sorts of hardware, brass, wire, and broad cloths, especially 
scarlet. 
Generally speaking, the inhabitants have made no great 
progress in the arts of industry; though there are some par¬ 
ticular manufactures in which they excel. In the accounts 
of ancient writers, great foundries of cannon are mentioned in 
the district of Acheen; and it is certain that fire arms, as 
well as knives, are at this day manufactured in the country 
of Menancabow. In general, however, they do not excel 
in manufactures of iron. They make nails, though they are 
not much used in building, wooden pins being generally sub¬ 
stituted ; also various kinds of tools, such as adzes of different 
sorts, axes, hoes, &c. In carpenters’ work they are equally 
rude, being ignorant of the use of the saw, excepting where 
it has been introduced by the British. Trees are felled by 
chopping at the stems; and in procuring boards, they are 
confined to those, the direction of whose grain, or other 
qualities, admit of their being easily split asunder. In this 
respect the species called maranti and marakuli have the 
preference. The tree being stripped of its branches and its 
bark, is cut to the length required, and by the help of 
wedges split into boards. For cements they chiefly use the 
curd of the buffalo milk. It is to be observed that butter, 
which is used by the Europeans only, is made, not as with 
us, by churning, but by letting the milk stand till the butter 
forms of itself on the top. It is then taken off with a spoon, 
stirred about with the same in a flat vessel, and well washed 
in two or three waters. The thick sour milk left at the 
bottom, when the butter or cream is removed, is the curd 
here meant. This must be well squeezed, formed into cakes, 
and left to dry, when it will grow nearly as hard as flint. 
For use, you must scrape some of it off, mix it with quick¬ 
lime, and moisten it with milk. There is no stronger cement 
in the world, and it is found to hold, particularly in a hot 
and damp climate, much better than glue; proving also 
effectual in mending china-ware. Ink is made by mixing 
lamp-black with the white of egg. To procure the former 
they suspend over a burning lamp an earthen pot, the bottom 
of which is moistened, in order to make the soot adhere to 
it. Painting and drawfing they are quite strangers to. In 
carving, both in wood and ivory, they are curious and 
fanciful, but their designs are always grotesque and out of 
nature. The handles of the krises are the most common 
subjects of their ingenuity in this art, which usually exhibit 
the head and beak of a bird, with the folded arms of a human 
creature, not unlike the representation of one of the Egyp¬ 
tian deities. In cane and basket work they are particularly 
neat and expert; as well as in mats, of which some kinds 
are much prized for their extreme fineness and ornamental 
borders. Silk and cotton cloths, of varied colours, manu¬ 
factured by themselves, are worn by the natives in all parts 
of the country, especially by the women. Some of their 
work is very fine, and the patterns prettily fancied. Their 
loom or apparatus for weaving is extremely defective, and 
renders their progress tedious. The women are expert at 
embroidery, the gold and silver thread for which is procured 
from China, as well as their needles. Different kinds of 
earthenware are manufactured in the island; and they ex¬ 
tract the cocoa-nut oil, which is in general use. Gunpowder 
is 
