SUMATRA 
157 
At some period to which it is impossible to assign a date, 
the southern part was largely colonised from Java, and 
the two kingdoms of Menangkabo and Palembang estab¬ 
lished, or at all events largely peopled. That this was 
long anterior to the advent of the Europeans is evident 
from the fact that Malacca was a colony founded by 
settlers from Palembang, and that the former city had 
been in existence for more than 200 years before its fall 
in 1511. The Portuguese never succeeded in establish¬ 
ing themselves in Sumatra any more than in Java, 
although they had many unimportant trading settlements, 
and were involved in many small wars with the natives. 
The Dutch first came in 1598, and in 1685 the Eng¬ 
lish, driven by them out of Bantam in Java, built a fort 
and factory at Benkulen. This was not, however, their 
first acquaintance with the island, for Sir James Lancas¬ 
ter, with a fleet of four vessels, had already borne a 
letter from Queen Elizabeth to the King of Ache in 
1602, and had concluded a friendly treaty with him. 
The British tenure of Benkulen lasted until 1824, when 
the settlement was handed over to the Dutch in exchange 
for Malacca, after an expensive and useless occupation 
of 140 years. The history of the Dutch in Sumatra is 
that of slow but steady progress in the acquisition of 
territory, although the Ache war, which has lasted over 
twenty years, shows at present no sign of termination. 
3. Geology, Orography, etc. 
The physical structure of Sumatra is a combination 
of that of Java with that of the Malay peninsula. The 
great mountain masses appear to be composed largely 
of Palaeozoic rocks; slates, and clay schists, etc., and much 
