156 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
years later, landing at Pedir, in Ache, in 1505. He 
identifies the island with Taprobana, but calls it Sumatra, 
using the orthography of the present day. He speaks 
of the pepper, aloes, silks, and other products of the 
island, and states that it was divided into four kingdoms, 
that gold, silver, and tin coin was current, and that the 
practice of suttee or concremation was in vogue. Diego 
Lopes de Sequeira, with Magellan as one of his officers, 
landed at the same port in September 1509, and con¬ 
cluded a treaty with the raja. Thenceforward, and 
especially after the fall of Malacca in 1511, the island 
was frequently visited, and in Schoners globe of 1523 
we find it represented with very tolerable accuracy. In 
the Carta Universal of Diego Eibero, published in Seville 
in 1529, it is extraordinarily w r ell plotted, both as 
regards outline and position ; while, on the other hand, 
it is curious to note that the northern coast of Java is 
alone depicted, so that it is probable that the former 
island had been circumnavigated before southern Java had 
been visited by Europeans. Eor many centuries before 
the arrival of the Portuguese in the archipelago, the com¬ 
merce of the ports had been in the hands of the Arabs, 
and in Ache this appears to have been especially the case, 
resulting to a certain extent in the fusion of the immi¬ 
grants with the native population—a fact which may 
partially account for the marked difference in type of the 
Achenese of the present day from the other island tribes. 
From the earliest times the Hindus carried on trade 
with Sumatra, and there is sufficient evidence in the 
remains of Hindu temples to show that they had at one 
time established their religion among the natives. But 
it was earlier ousted by Islamism than was the case in 
Java, and Marco Polo found the people of the eastern 
coasts Mohammedans at the time of his visit in 1291. 
