1628.

Still retaining a strong desire to possess himself of Malacca, so many years the grand object of Achinese ambition, he imprisoned the ambassador then at his court, and made extraordinary preparations for the siege, which he designed to undertake in person. The laksamana or commander in chief (who had effected all the king's late conquests) attempted to oppose this resolution; but the maharaja, willing to flatter his master's propensity, undertook to put him in possession of the city and had the command of the fleet given to him, as the other had of the land forces. The king set out on the expedition with a fleet of two hundred and fifty sail (forty-seven of them not less than a hundred feet in the keel), in which were twenty thousand men well appointed, and a great train of artillery. After being some time on board, with his family and retinue as usual, he determined, on account of an ill omen that was observed, to return to the shore. The generals, proceeding without him, soon arrived before Malacca. Having landed their men they made a judicious disposition, and began the attack with much courage and military skill. The Portuguese were obliged to abandon several of their posts, one of which, after a defence of fifty days, was levelled with the ground, and from its ruins strong works were raised by the laksamana. The maharaja had seized another post advantageously situated. From their several camps they had lines of communication, and the boats on the river were stationed in such a manner that the place was completely invested. Matters were in this posture when a force of two thousand men came to the assistance of the besieged from the king of Pahang, and likewise five sail of Portuguese vessels from the coast of Coromandel; but all was insufficient to remove so powerful an enemy, although by that time they had lost four thousand of their troops in the different attacks and skirmishes. In the latter end of the year a fleet of thirty sail of ships, large and small, under the command of Nunno Alvarez Botello, having on board nine hundred European soldiers, appeared off Malacca, and blocked up the fleet of Achin in a river about three miles from the town. This entirely altered the complexion of affairs. The besiegers retired from their advanced works and hastened to the defence of their galleys, erecting batteries by the side of the river. The maharaja being summoned to surrender returned a civil but resolute answer. In the night, endeavouring to make his escape with the smaller vessels through the midst of the Portuguese, he was repulsed and wounded. Next day the whole force of the Achinese dropped down the stream with a design to fight their way, but after an engagement of two hours their principal galley, named the Terror of the World, was boarded and taken, after losing five hundred men of seven which she carried. Many other vessels were afterwards captured or sunk. The laksamana hung out a white flag and sent to treat with Nunno, but, some difficulty arising about the terms, the engagement was renewed with great warmth. News was brought to the Portuguese that the maharaja was killed and that the king of Pahang was approaching with a hundred sail of vessels to reinforce them. Still the Achinese kept up a dreadful fire, which seemed to render the final success doubtful; but at length they sent proposals desiring only to be allowed three galleys of all their fleet to carry away four thousand men who remained of twenty that came before the town. It was answered that they must surrender at discretion; which the laksamana hesitating to do, a furious assault took place both by water and land upon his galleys and works, which were all effectually destroyed or captured, not a ship and scarcely a man escaping. He himself in the last extremity fled to the woods, but was seized ere long by the king of Pahang's scouts. Being brought before the governor he said to him, with an undaunted countenance, "Behold here the laksamana for the first time overcome!" He was treated with respect but kept a prisoner, and sent on his own famous ship to Goa in order to be from thence conveyed to Portugal: but death deprived his enemies of that distinguished ornament of their triumph.

1635.

This signal defeat proved so important a blow to the power of Achin that we read of no further attempts to renew the war until the year 1635, when the king, encouraged by the feuds which at this time prevailed in Malacca, again violated the law of nations, to him little known, by imprisoning their ambassador, and caused all the Portuguese about his court to be murdered. No military operations however immediately took place in consequence of this barbarous proceeding.

1640. 1641.

In the year 1640 the Dutch with twelve men of war, and the king of Achin with twenty-five galleys, appeared before that harassed and devoted city; which at length, in the following year was wrested from the hands of the Portuguese, who had so long, through such difficulties, maintained possession of it. This year was also marked by the death of the sultan, whom the Dutch writers name Paduka Sri, at the age of sixty, after a reign of thirty-five years; having just lived to see his hereditary foe subdued; and as if the opposition of the Portuguese power, which seems first to have occasioned the rise of that of Achin, was also necessary to its existence, the splendour and consequence of the kingdom from that period rapidly declined.

The prodigious wealth and resources of the monarchy during his reign are best evinced by the expeditions he was enabled to fit out; but being no less covetous than ambitious he contrived to make the expenses fall upon his subjects, and at the same time filled his treasury with gold by pressing the merchants and plundering the neighbouring states. An intelligent person (General Beaulieu), who was for some time at his court, and had opportunities of information on the subject, uses this strong expression—that he was infinitely rich. He constantly employed in his castle three hundred goldsmiths. This would seem an exaggeration, but that it is well known the Malayan princes have them always about them in great numbers at this day, working in the manufacture of filigree, for which the country is so famous. His naval strength has been already sufficiently described. He was possessed of two thousand brass guns and small arms in proportion. His trained elephants amounted to some hundreds. His armies were probably raised only upon the occasion which called for their acting, and that in a mode similar to what was established under the feudal system in Europe. The valley of Achin alone was said to be able to furnish forty thousand men upon an emergency. A certain number of warriors however were always kept on foot for the protection of the king and his capital. Of these the superior class were called ulubalang, and the inferior amba-raja, who were entirely devoted to his service and resembled the janizaries of Constantinople. Two hundred horsemen nightly patrolled the grounds about the castle, the inner courts and apartments of which were guarded by three thousand women. The king's eunuchs amounted to five hundred.

The disposition of this monarch was cruel and sanguinary. A multitude of instances are recorded of the horrible barbarity of his punishments, and for the most trivial offences. He imprisoned his own mother and put her to the torture, suspecting her to have been engaged in a conspiracy against him with some of the principal nobles, whom he caused to be executed. He murdered his nephew, the king of Johor's son, of whose favour with his mother he was jealous. He also put to death a son of the king of Bantam, and another of the king of Pahang, who were both his near relations. None of the royal family survived in 1622 but his own son, a youth of eighteen, who had been thrice banished the court, and was thought to owe his continuance in life only to his surpassing his father, if possible, in cruelty, and being hated by all ranks of people. He was at one time made king of Pidir but recalled on account of his excesses, confined in prison and put to strange tortures by his father, whom he did not outlive. The whole territory of Achin was almost depopulated by wars, executions, and oppression. The king endeavoured to repeople the country by his conquests. Having ravaged the kingdoms of Johor, Pahang, Kedah, Perak, and Dilli, he transported the inhabitants from those places to Achin, to the number of twenty-two thousand persons. But this barbarous policy did not produce the effect he hoped; for the unhappy people, being brought naked to his dominions, and not allowed any kind of maintenance on their arrival, died of hunger in the streets. In the planning his military enterprises he was generally guided by the distresses of his neighbours, for whom, as for his prey, he unceasingly lay in wait; and his preparatory measures were taken with such secrecy that the execution alone unravelled them. Insidious political craft and wanton delight in blood united in him to complete the character of a tyrant.

It must here be observed that, with respect to the period of this remarkable reign, the European and Malayan authorities are considerably at variance, the latter assigning to it something less than thirty solar years, and placing the death of Iskander Muda in December 1636. The Annals further state that he was succeeded by sultan Ala-eddin-Mahayat-shah, who reigned only about four years and died in February 1641. That this is the more accurate account I have no hesitation in believing, although Valentyn, who gives a detail of the king's magnificent funeral, was persuaded that the reign which ended in 1641 was the same that began in 1607. But he collected his information eighty years after the event, and as it does not appear that any European whose journal has been given to the world was on the spot at that period, the death of an obscure monarch who died after a short reign may well have been confounded by persons at a distance with that of his more celebrated predecessor. Both authorities however are agreed in the important fact that the successor to the throne in 1641 was a female. This person is described by Valentyn as being the wife of the old king, and not his daughter, as by some had been asserted; but from the Annals it appears that she was his daughter, named Taju al-alum; and as it was in her right that Maghayat-shah (certainly her husband), obtained the crown, so upon his decease, there being no male heir, she peaceably succeeded him in the government, and became the first queen regent of Achin. The succession having thenceforward continued nearly sixty years in the female line, this may be regarded as a new era in the history of the country. The nobles finding their power less restrained, and their individual consequence more felt under an administration of this kind than when ruled by kings (as sometimes they were with a rod of iron) supported these pageants, whom they governed as they thought fit, and thereby virtually changed the constitution into an aristocracy or oligarchy. The business of the state was managed by twelve orang-kayas, four of whom were superior to the rest, and among these the maharaja, or governor of the kingdom, was considered as the chief. It does not appear, nor is it probable, that the queen had the power of appointing or removing any of these great officers. No applications were made to the throne but in their presence, nor any public resolution taken but as they determined in council. The great object of their political jealousy seems to have been the pretensions of the king of Johor to the crown, in virtue of repeated intermarriages between the royal families of the two countries, and it may be presumed that the alarms excited from that quarter materially contributed to reconcile them to the female domination. They are accordingly said to have formed an engagement amongst themselves never to pay obedience to a foreign prince, nor to allow their royal mistress to contract any marriage that might eventually lead to such a consequence.* At the same time, by a new treaty with Johor, its king was indirectly excused from the homage to the crown of Achin which had been insisted upon by her predecessors and was the occasion of frequent wars.

(*Footnote. However fanciful it may be thought, I cannot doubt that the example of our Queen Elizabeth, whose character and government were highly popular with the Achinese on account of her triumphant contest with the united powers of Spain and Portugal, had a strong influence in the establishment of this new species of monarchy, and that the example of her sister's marriage with Philip may have contributed to the resolution taken by the nobles. The actions of our illustrious queen were a common topic of conversation between the old tyrant and Sir James Lancaster.)

In proportion as the political consequence of the kingdom declined, its history, as noticed by foreigners, becomes obscure. Little is recorded of the transactions of her reign, and it is likely that Achin took no active part in the concerns of neighbouring powers, but suffered the Hollanders, who maintained in general a friendly intercourse with her, to remain in quiet possession of Malacca.

1643.

In 1643 they sent an ambassador to compliment her upon her accession, and at the same time to solicit payment for a quantity of valuable jewels ordered by the deceased king, but for the amount of which she declined to make herself responsible.

1660.

It is said (but the fact will admit of much doubt) that in 1660 she was inclined to marry one of their countrymen, and would have carried her design into execution had not the East India Company prevented by their authority a connexion that might, as they prudently judged, be productive of embarrassment to their affairs.

1664.

The Dutch however complain that she gave assistance to their enemies the people of Perak, and in 1664 it was found necessary to send a squadron under the command of Pieter de Bitter to bring her to reason. As it happened that she was at this time at war with some of her own dependants he made himself master of several places on the western coast that were nominally at least belonging to Achin.

1666.

About 1666 the English establishments at Achin and some ports to the southward appear to have given considerable umbrage to their rivals.

1669.

In 1669 the people of Dilli on the north-eastern coast threw off their allegiance, and the power of the kingdom became gradually more and more circumscribed.

1675.

This queen died in 1675, after reigning, with a degree of tranquillity little known in these countries, upwards of thirty-four years.

The people being now accustomed and reconciled to female rule, which they found more lenient than that of their kings, acquiesced in general in the established mode of government.

1677.

And she was immediately succeeded by another female monarch, named Nur al-alum, who reigned little more than two years and died in 1677.

The queen who succeeded her was named Anayet-shah.

1684.

In the year 1684 she received an embassy from the English government of Madras, and appeared at that time to be about forty years. The persons who were on this occasion presented to her express their suspicions, which were suggested to them by a doubt prevailing amongst the inhabitants, that this sovereign was not a real queen, but a eunuch dressed up in female apparel, and imposed on the public by the artifices of the orang kayas. But as such a cheat, though managed with every semblance of reality (which they observe was the case) could not be carried on for any number of years without detection, and as the same idea does not appear to have been entertained at any other period, it is probable they were mistaken in their surmise. Her person they describe to have been large, and her voice surprisingly strong, but not manly.*

(*Footnote. The following curious passage is extracted from the journal of these gentlemen's proceedings. "We went to give our attendance at the palace this day as customary. Being arrived at the place of audience with the orang cayos, the queen was pleased to order us to come nearer, when her majesty was very inquisitive into the use of our wearing periwigs, and what was the convenience of them; to all which we returned satisfactory answers. After this her majesty desired of Mr. Ord, if it were no affront to him, that he would take off his periwig, that she might see how he appeared without it; which, according to her majesty's request, he did. She then told us she had heard of our business, and would give her answer by the orang cayos; and so we retired." I venture, with submission, to observe that this anecdote seems to put the question of the sex beyond controversy.)

The purport of the embassy was to obtain liberty to erect a fortification in her territory, which she peremptorily refused, being contrary to the established rules of the kingdom; adding that if the governor of Madras would fill her palace with gold she could not permit him to build with brick either fort or house. To have a factory of timber and plank was the utmost indulgence that could be allowed; and on that footing the return of the English, who had not traded there for many years, should be welcomed with great friendship. The queen herself, the orang kayas represented, was not allowed to fortify lest some foreign power might avail themselves of it to enslave the country. In the course of these negotiations it was mentioned that the agriculture of Achin had suffered considerably of late years by reason of a general licence given to all the inhabitants to search for gold in the mountains and rivers which afforded that article; whereas the business had formerly been restricted to certain authorized persons, and the rest obliged to till the ground.

1684.

The court feared to give a public sanction for the settlement of the English on any part of the southern coast lest it should embroil them with the other European powers.*

(*Footnote. The design of settling a factory at this period in the dominions of Achin was occasioned by the recent loss of our establishment at Bantam, which had been originally fixed by Sir James Lancaster in 1603. The circumstances of this event were as follows. The old sultan had thought proper to share the regal power with his son in the year 1677, and this measure was attended with the obvious effect of a jealousy between the parent and child, which soon broke forth into open hostilities. The policy of the Dutch led them to take an active part in favour of the young sultan, who had inclined most to their interests and now solicited their aid. The English on the other hand discouraged what appeared to them an unnatural rebellion, but without interfering, as they said, in any other character than that of mediators, or affording military assistance to either party; and which their extreme weakness rather than their assertions renders probable. On the twenty-eighth of March 1682 the Dutch landed a considerable force from Batavia, and soon terminated the war. They placed the young sultan on the throne, delivering the father into his custody, and obtained from him in return for these favours an exclusive privilege of trade in his territories; which was evidently the sole object they had in view. On the first day of April possession was taken of the English factory by a party of Dutch and country soldiers, and on the twelfth the agent and council were obliged to embark with their property on vessels provided for the purpose, which carried them to Batavia. From thence they proceeded to Surat on the twenty-second of August in the following year.

In order to retain a share in the pepper-trade the English turned their thoughts towards Achin, and a deputation, consisting of two gentlemen, of the names of Old and Cawley, was sent thither in 1684; the success of which is above related. It happened that at this time certain Rajas or chiefs of the country of Priaman and other places on the west coast of Sumatra were at Achin also to solicit aid of that court against the Dutch, who had made war upon and otherwise molested them. These immediately applied to Mr. Ord, expressing a strong desire that the English should settle in their respective districts, offering ground for a fort and the exclusive purchase of their pepper. They consented to embark for Madras, where an agreement was formed with them by the governor in the beginning of the year 1685 on the terms they had proposed. In consequence of this an expedition was fitted out with the design of establishing a settlement at Priaman; but a day or two before the ships sailed an invitation to the like purport was received from the chiefs of Bang-kaulu (since corruptly called Bencoolen); and as it was known that a considerable proportion of the pepper that used to be exported from Bantam had been collected from the neighbourhood of Bencoolen (at a place called Silebar), it was judged advisable that Mr. Ord, who was the person entrusted with the management of this business, should first proceed thither; particularly as at that season of the year it was the windward port. He arrived there on the twenty-fifth day of June 1685, and, after taking possession of the country assigned to the English Company, and leaving Mr. Broome in charge of the place, he sailed for the purpose of establishing the other settlements. He stopped first at Indrapura, where he found three Englishmen who were left of a small factory that had been some time before settled there by a man of the name of Du Jardin. Here he learned that the Dutch, having obtained a knowledge of the original intention of our fixing at Priaman, had anticipated us therein and sent a party to occupy the situation. In the meantime it was understood in Europe that this place was the chief of our establishments on the coast, and ships were accordingly consigned thither. The same was supposed at Madras, and troops and stores were sent to reinforce it, which were afterwards landed at Indrapura. A settlement was then formed at Manjuta, and another attempted at Batang-kapas in 1686; but here the Dutch, assisted by a party amongst the natives, assaulted and drove out our people. Every possible opposition, as it was natural to expect, was given by these our rivals to the success of our factories. They fixed themselves in the neighbourhood of them and endeavoured to obstruct the country people from carrying pepper to them or supplying them with provisions either by sea or land. Our interests however in the end prevailed, and Bencoolen in particular, to which the other places were rendered subordinate in 1686, began to acquire some degree of vigour and respectability. In 1689 encouragement was given to Chinese colonists to settle there, whose number has been continually increasing from that time. In 1691 the Dutch felt the loss of their influence at Silebar and other of the southern countries, where they attempted to exert authority in the name of the sultan of Bantam, and the produce of these places was delivered to the English. This revolution proceeded from the works with which about this time our factory was strengthened. In 1695 a settlement was made at Triamang, and two years after at Kattaun and Sablat. The first, in the year 1700, was removed to Bantal. Various applications were made by the natives in different parts of the island for the establishment of factories, particularly from Ayer-Bangis to the northward, Palembang on the eastern side, and the people from the countries south of Tallo, near Manna. A person was sent to survey these last, as far as Pulo Pisang and Kroi, in 1715. In consequence of the inconvenience attending the shipping of goods from Bencoolen River, which is often impracticable from the surfs, a warehouse was built in 1701 at a place then called the cove; which gave the first idea of removing the settlement to the point of land which forms the bay of Bencoolen. The unhealthiness of the old situation was thought to render this an expedient step; and accordingly about 1714 it was in great measure relinquished, and the foundations of Fort Marlborough were laid on a spot two or three miles distant. Being a high plain it was judged to possess considerable advantages; many of which however are counterbalanced by its want of the vicinity of a river, so necessary for the ready and plentiful supply of provisions. Some progress had been made in the erection of this fort when an accident happened that had nearly destroyed the Company's views. The natives incensed at ill treatment received from the Europeans, who were then but little versed in the knowledge of their dispositions or the art of managing them by conciliating methods, rose in a body in the year 1719, and forced the garrison, whose ignorant fears rendered them precipitate, to seek refuge on board their ships. These people began now to feel alarms lest the Dutch, taking advantage of the absence of the English, should attempt an establishment, and soon permitted some persons from the northern factories to resettle the place; and, supplies arriving from Madras, things returned to their former course, and the fort was completed. The Company's affairs on this coast remained in tranquillity for a number of years. The important settlement of Natal was established in 1752, and that of Tappanuli a short time afterwards; which involved the English in fresh disputes with the Dutch, who set up a claim to the country in which they are situated. In the year 1760 the French under Comte d'Estaing destroyed all the English settlements on the coast of Sumatra; but they were soon reestablished and our possession secured by the treaty of Paris in 1763. Fort Marlborough, which had been hitherto a peculiar subordinate of Fort St. George, was now formed into an independent presidency, and was furnished with a charter for erecting a mayor's court, but which has never been enforced. In 1781 a detachment of military from thence embarked upon five East India ships and took possession of Padang and all other Dutch factories in consequence of the war with that nation. In 1782 the magazine of Fort Marlborough, in which were four hundred barrels of powder, was fired by lightning and blew up; but providentially few lives were lost. In 1802 an act of parliament was passed "to authorize the East India Company to make their settlement at Fort Marlborough in the East Indies, a factory subordinate to the presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and to transfer the servants who on the reduction of that establishment shall be supernumerary, to the presidency of Fort St. George." In 1798 plants of the nutmeg and clove had for the first time been procured from the Moluccas; and in 1803 a large importation of these valuable articles of cultivation took place. As the plantations were, by the last accounts from thence, in the most flourishing state, very important commercial advantages were expected to be derived from the culture.)

A few years before these transactions she had invited the king of Siam to renew the ancient connexion between their respective states, and to unite in a league against the Dutch, by whose encroachments the commerce of her subjects and the extent of her dominions were much circumscribed. It does not appear however that this overture was attended with any effect, nor have the limits of the Achinese jurisdiction since that period extended beyond Pidir on the northern, and Barus on the western coast.

1688.

She died in 1688, having reigned something less than eleven years, and was succeeded by a young queen named Kamalat-shah; but this did not take place without a strong opposition from a faction amongst the orang kayas which wanted to set up a king, and a civil war actually commenced. The two parties drew up their forces on opposite sides of the river, and for two or three nights continued to fire at each other, but in the daytime followed their ordinary occupations. These opportunities of intercourse made them sensible of their mutual folly. They agreed to throw aside their arms and the crown remained in possession of the newly elected queen. It was said to have been esteemed essential that she should be a maiden, advanced in years, and connected by blood with the ancient royal line. In this reign an English factory, which had been long discontinued, was reestablished at Achin, but in the interval some private traders of this nation had always resided on the spot. These usually endeavoured to persuade the state that they represented the India Company, and sometimes acquired great influence, which they are accused of having employed in a manner not only detrimental to that body but to the interests of the merchants of India in general by monopolizing the trade of the port, throwing impediments in the way of all shipping not consigned to their management, and embezzling the cargoes of such as were. An asylum was also afforded, beyond the reach of law, for all persons whose crimes or debts induced them to fly from the several European settlements. These considerations chiefly made the Company resolve to reclaim their ancient privileges in that kingdom, and a deputation was sent from the presidency of Madras in the year 1695 for that purpose, with letters addressed to her illustrious majesty the queen of Achin, desiring permission to settle on the terms her predecessors had granted to them; which was readily complied with, and a factory, but on a very limited scale, was established accordingly, but soon declined and disappeared. In 1704, when Charles Lockyer (whose account of his voyage, containing a particular description of this place, was published in 1711) visited Achin, one of these independent factors, named Francis Delton, carried on a flourishing trade. In 1695 the Achinese were alarmed by the arrival of six sail of Dutch ships of force, with a number of troops on board, in their road, not having been visited by any of that nation for fifteen years, but they departed without offering any molestation.

1699.

This queen was deposed by her subjects (whose grounds of complaint are not stated) about the latter part of the year 1699, after reigning also eleven years; and with her terminated the female dynasty, which, during its continuance of about fifty-nine years, had attracted much notice in Europe.

Her successor was named Beder al-alum sherif Hasham, the nature of whose pretensions to the crown does not positively appear, but there is reason to believe that he was her brother. When he had reigned a little more than two years it pleased God (as the Annals express it) to afflict him with a distemper which caused his feet and hands to contract (probably the gout) and disqualified him for the performance of his religious duties.

1702.

Under these circumstances he was induced to resign the government in 1702, and died about a month after his abdication.

Perkasa-alum, a priest, found means by his intrigues to acquire the sovereignty, and one of his first acts was to attempt imposing certain duties on the merchandise imported by English traders, who had been indulged with an exemption from all port charges excepting the established complimentary presents upon their arrival and receiving the chap or licence. This had been stipulated in the treaty made by Sir James Lancaster, and renewed by Mr. Grey when chief of the Company's factory. The innovation excited an alarm and determined opposition on the part of the masters of ships then at the place, and they proceeded (under the conduct of Captain Alexander Hamilton, who published an account of his voyage in 1727) to the very unwarrantable step of commencing hostilities by firing upon the villages situated near the mouth of the river, and cutting off from the city all supplies of provisions by sea. The inhabitants, feeling severely the effects of these violent measures, grew clamorous against the government, which was soon obliged to restore to these insolent traders the privileges for which they contended.

1704.

Advantage was taken of the public discontents to raise an insurrection in favour of the nephew of the late queen, or, according to the Annals, the son of Beder al-alum (who was probably her brother), in the event of which Perkasa-alum was deposed about the commencement of the year 1704, and after an interregnum or anarchy of three months continuance, the young prince obtained possession of the throne, by the name of Jemal al-alum. From this period the native writers furnish very ample details of the transactions of the Achinese government, as well as of the general state of the country, whose prosperous circumstances during the early part of this king's reign are strongly contrasted with the misery and insignificance to which it was reduced by subsequent events. The causes and progress of this political decline cannot be more satisfactorily set forth than in a faithful translation of the Malayan narrative which was drawn up, or extracted from a larger work, for my use, and is distinct from the Annals already mentioned:

When raja Jemal al-alum reigned in Achin the country was exceedingly populous, the nobles had large possessions, the merchants were numerous and opulent, the judgments of the king were just, and no man could experience the severity of punishment but through his own fault. In those days the king could not trade on his own account, the nobles having combined to prevent it; but the accustomed duties of the port were considered as his revenue, and ten per cent was levied for this purpose upon all merchandise coming into the country. The city was then of great extent, the houses were of brick and stone. The most considerable merchant was a man named Daniel, a Hollander; but many of different nations were also settled there, some from Surat, some from Kutch, others from China. When ships arrived in the port, if the merchants could not take off all the cargoes the king advanced the funds for purchasing what remained, and divided the goods among them, taking no profit to himself. After the departure of the vessel the king was paid in gold the amount of his principal, without interest.

His daily amusements were in the grounds allotted for the royal sports. He was attended by a hundred young men, who were obliged to be constantly near his person day and night, and who were clothed in a sumptuous manner at a monthly expense of a hundred dollars for each man. The government of the different parts of the country was divided, under his authority, amongst the nobles. When a district appeared to be disturbed he took measures for quelling the insurrection; those who resisted his orders he caused to be apprehended; when the roads were bad he gave directions for their repair. Such was his conduct in the government. His subjects all feared him, and none dared to condemn his actions. At that time the country was in peace.

When he had been a few years on the throne a country lying to the eastward, named Batu Bara, attempted to throw off its subjection to Achin. The chiefs were ordered to repair to court to answer for their conduct, but they refused to obey. These proceedings raised the king's indignation. He assembled the nobles and required of them that each should furnish a vessel of war, to be employed on an expedition against that place, and within two months, thirty large galleys, without counting vessels of a smaller size, were built and equipped for sea. When the fleet arrived off Batu Bara (by which must be understood the Malayan district at the mouth of the river, and not the Batta territory through which it takes its course), a letter was sent on shore addressed to the refractory chiefs, summoning them to give proof of their allegiance by appearing in the king's presence, or threatening the alternative of an immediate attack. After much division in their councils it was at length agreed to feign submission, and a deputation was sent off to the royal fleet, carrying presents of fruit and provisions of all kinds. One of the chiefs carried, as his complimentary offering, some fresh coconuts, of the delicate species called kalapa-gading, into which a drug had been secretly introduced. The king observing these directed that one should be cut open for him, and having drunk of the juice, became affected with a giddiness in his head. (This symptom shows the poison to have been the upas, but too much diluted in the liquor of the nut to produce death). Being inclined to repose, the strangers were ordered to return on shore, and, finding his indisposition augment, he gave directions for being conveyed back to Achin, whither his ship sailed next day. The remainder of the fleet continued off the coast during five or six days longer, and then returned likewise without effecting the reduction of the place, which the chiefs had lost no time in fortifying.

About two years after this transaction the king, under pretence of amusement, made an excursion to the country lying near the source of the river Achin, then under the jurisdiction of a panglima or governor named Muda Seti; for it must be understood that this part of the kingdom is divided into three districts, known by the appellations of the Twenty-two, Twenty-six, and Twenty-five Mukims (see above), which were governed respectively by Muda Seti, Imam Muda, and Perbawang-Shah (or Purba-wangsa). These three chiefs had the entire control of the country, and when their views were united they had the power of deposing and setting up kings. Such was the nature of the government. The king's expedition was undertaken with the design of making himself master of the person of Muda Seti, who had given him umbrage, and on this occasion his followers of all ranks were so numerous that wherever they halted for the night the fruits of the earth were all devoured, as well as great multitudes of cattle. Muda Seti however, being aware of the designs against him, had withdrawn himself from the place of his usual residence and was not to be found when the king arrived there; but a report being brought that he had collected five or six hundred followers and was preparing to make resistance, orders were immediately given for burning his house. This being effected, the king returned immediately to Achin, leaving the forces that had accompanied him at a place called Pakan Badar, distant about half a day's journey from the capital, where they were directed to entrench themselves. From this post they were driven by the country chief, who advanced rapidly upon them with several thousand men, and forced them to fall back to Padang Siring, where the king was collecting an army, and where a battle was fought soon after, that terminated in the defeat of the royal party with great slaughter. Those who escaped took refuge in the castle along with the king.

1723.

Under these disastrous circumstances he called upon the chiefs who adhered to him to advise what was best to be done, surrounded as they were by the country people, on whom he invoked the curse of God; when one of them, named Panglima Maharaja, gave it as his opinion that the only effectual measure by which the country could be saved from ruin would be the king's withdrawing himself from the capital so long as the enemy should continue in its vicinity, appointing a regent from among the nobles to govern the country in his absence; and when subordination should be restored he might then return and take again possession of his throne. To this proposition he signified his assent on the condition that Panglima Maharaja should assure him by an oath that no treachery was intended; which oath was accordingly taken, and the king, having nominated as his substitute Maharaja Lela, one of the least considerable of the ulubalangs, retired with his wives and children to the country of the Four mukims, situated about three hours journey to the westward of the city. (The Annals say he fled to Pidir in November 1723.) Great ravages were committed by the insurgents, but they did not attack the palace, and after some days of popular confusion the chiefs of the Three districts, who (says the writer) must not be confounded with the officers about the person of the king, held a consultation amongst themselves, and, exercising an authority of which there had been frequent examples, set up Panglima Maharaja in the room of the abdicated king (by the title, say the Annals, of Juhar al-alum, in December 1723). About seven days after his elevation he was seized with a convulsive disorder in his neck and died. A nephew of Jemal al-alum, named Undei Tebang, was then placed upon the throne, but notwithstanding his having bribed the chiefs of the Three districts with thirty katties of gold, they permitted him to enjoy his dignity only a few days, and then deposed him. (The same authority states that he was set up by the chiefs of the Four mukims, and removed through the influence of Muda Seti.)

1724. 1735.

The person whom they next combined to raise to the throne was Maharaja Lela (before mentioned as the king's substitute). It was his good fortune to govern the country in tranquillity for the space of nearly twelve years, during which period the city of Achin recovered its population. (According to the Annals he began to reign in February 1724, by the title of Ala ed-din Ahmed shah Juhan, and died in June 1735.) It happened that the same day on which the event of his death took place Jemal al-alum again made his appearance, and advanced to a mosque near the city. His friends advised him to lose no time in possessing himself of the castle, but for trifling reasons that mark the weakness of his character he resolved to defer the measure till the succeeding day; and the opportunity, as might be expected, was lost. The deceased king left five sons, the eldest of whom, named Po-chat-au (or Po-wak, according to another manuscript) exhorted his brothers to unite with him in the determination of resisting a person whose pretensions were entirely inconsistent with their security. They accordingly sent to demand assistance of Perbawang-shah, chief of the district of the Twenty-five mukims, which lies the nearest to that quarter. He arrived before morning, embraced the five princes, confirmed them in their resolution, and authorised the eldest to assume the government (which he did, say the Annals, by the title of Ala ed-din Juhan-shah in September 1735.) But to this measure the concurrence of the other chiefs was wanting. At daybreak the guns of the castle began to play upon the mosque, and, some of the shot penetrating its walls, the pusillanimous Jemal al-alum, being alarmed at the danger, judged it advisable to retreat from thence and to set up his standard in another quarter, called kampong Jawa, his people at the same time retaining possession of the mosque. A regular warfare now ensued between the two parties and continued for no less than ten years (the great chiefs taking different sides), when at length some kind of compromise was effected that left Po-chat-au (Juhan-shah) in the possession of the throne, which he afterwards enjoyed peaceably for eight years, and no further mention is made of Jemal al-alum. About this period the chiefs took umbrage at his interfering in matters of trade, contrary to what they asserted to be the established custom of the realm, and assembled their forces in order to intimidate him. (The history of Achin presents a continual struggle between the monarch and the aristocracy of the country, which generally made the royal monopoly of trade the ground of crimination and pretext for their rebellions).

1755.

Panglima Muda Seti, being considered as the head of the league, came down with twenty thousand followers, and, upon the king's refusing to admit into the castle his complimentary present (considering it only as the prelude to humiliating negotiation), another war commenced that lasted for two years, and was at length terminated by Muda Seti's withdrawing from the contest and returning to his province. About five years after this event Juhan shah died, and his son, Pochat-bangta, succeeded him, but not (says this writer, who here concludes his abstract) with the general concurrence of the chiefs, and the country long continued in a disturbed state.

END OF NARRATIVE.

1760.

The death of Juhan shah is stated in the Annals to have taken place in August 1760, and the accession of the son, who took the name of Ala-eddin Muhammed shah, not until November of the same year. Other authorities place these events in 1761.

1763.

Before he had completed the third year of his reign an insurrection of his subjects obliged him to save himself by flight on board a ship in the road. This happened in 1763 or 1764. The throne was seized by the maharaja (first officer of state) named Sinara, who assumed the title of Beder-eddin Juhan shah, and about the end of 1765 was put to death by the adherents of the fugitive monarch, Muhammed shah, who thereupon returned to the throne.*

(*Footnote. Captain Forrest acquaints us that he visited the court of Mahomed Selim (the latter name is not given to this prince by any other writer) in the year 1764, at which time he appeared to be about forty years of age. It is difficult to reconcile this date with the recorded events of this unfortunate reign, and I have doubts whether it was not the usurper whom the Captain saw.)

He was exposed however to further revolutions. About six years after his restoration the palace was attacked in the night by a desperate band of two hundred men, headed by a man called Raja Udah, and he was once more obliged to make a precipitate retreat. This usurper took the title of sultan Suliman shah, but after a short reign of three months was driven out in his turn and forced to fly for refuge to one of the islands in the eastern sea. The nature of his pretensions, if he had any, have not been stated, but he never gave any further trouble. From this period Muhammed maintained possession of his capital, although it was generally in a state of confusion.

1772.

"In the year 1772," says Captain Forrest, "Mr. Giles Holloway, resident of Tappanooly, was sent to Achin by the Bencoolen government, with a letter and present, to ask leave from the king to make a settlement there. I carried him from his residency. Not being very well on my arrival, I did not accompany Mr. Holloway (a very sensible and discreet gentleman, and who spoke the Malay tongue very fluently) on shore at his first audience; and finding his commission likely to prove abortive I did not go to the palace at all. There was great anarchy and confusion at this time; and the malcontents came often, as I was informed, near the king's palace at night."

1775.

The Captain further remarks that when again there in 1775 he could not obtain an audience.

1781.

The Annals report his death to have happened on the 2nd of June 1781, and observe that from the commencement to the close of his reign the country never enjoyed repose. His brother, named Ala-eddin (or Uleddin, as commonly pronounced, and which seems to have been a favourite title with the Achinese princes), was in exile at Madras during a considerable period, and resided also for some time at Bencoolen.

The eldest son of the deceased king, then about eighteen years of age, succeeded him on the 16th of the same month, by the title of Ala-eddin Mahmud shah Juhan, in spite of an opposition attempted to be raised by the partisans of another son by a favourite wife. Weapons had been drawn in the court before the palace, when the tuanku agung or high priest, a person of great respectability and influence, by whom the former had been educated, came amidst the crowd, bareheaded and without attendance, leading his pupil by the hand. Having placed himself between the contending factions, he addressed them to the following effect: that the prince who stood before them had a natural right and legal claim to the throne of his father; that he had been educated with a view to it, and was qualified to adorn it by his disposition and talents; that he wished however to found his pretensions neither upon his birthright nor the strength of the party attached to him, but upon the general voice of his subjects calling him to the sovereignty; that if such was their sentiment he was ready to undertake the arduous duties of the station, in which he himself would assist him with the fruits of his experience; that if on the contrary they felt a predilection for his rival, no blood should be shed on his account, the prince and his tutor being resolved in that case to yield the point without a struggle, and retire to some distant island. This impressive appeal had the desired effect, and the young prince was invited by unanimous acclamation to assume the reins of government.*

(*Footnote. Mr. Philip Braham, late chief of the East India Company's settlement of Fort Marlborough, by whom the circumstances of this event were related to me, arrived at Achin in July 1781, about a fortnight after the transaction. He thus described his audience. The king was seated in a gallery (to which there were no visible steps), at the extremity of a spacious hall or court, and a curtain which hung before him was drawn aside when it was his pleasure to appear. In this court were great numbers of female attendants, but not armed, as they have been described. Mr. Braham was introduced through a long file of guards armed with blunderbusses, and then seated on a carpet in front of the gallery. When a conversation had been carried on for some time through the Shabandar, who communicated his answers to an interpreter, by whom they were reported to the king, the latter perceiving that he spoke the Malayan language addressed him directly, and asked several questions respecting England; what number of wives and children our sovereign had; how many ships of war the English kept in India; what was the French force, and others of that nature. He expressed himself in friendly terms with regard to our nation, and said he should always be happy to countenance our traders in his ports. Even at this early period of his reign he had abolished some vexatious imposts. Mr. Braham had an opportunity of learning the great degree of power and control possessed by certain of the orang kayas, who held their respective districts in actual sovereignty, and kept the city in awe by stopping, when it suited their purpose, the supplies of provisions. Captain Forrest, who once more visited Achin in 1784 and was treated with much distinction (see his Voyage to the Mergui Archipelago page 51), says he appeared to be twenty-five years of age; but this was a misconception. Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, who saw him in 1782, judged him to have been at that time no more than nineteen or twenty, which corresponds with Mr. Braham's statement.)

Little is known of the transactions of his reign, but that little is in favour of his personal character. The Annals (not always unexceptionable evidence when speaking of the living monarch) describe him as being endowed with every princely virtue, exercising the functions of government with vigour and rectitude, of undaunted courage, attentive to the protection of the ministers of religion, munificent to the descendants of the prophet (seiyid, but commonly pronounced sidi) and to men of learning, prompt at all times to administer justice, and consequently revered and beloved by his people. I have not been enabled to ascertain the year in which he died.

1791.

It appears by a Malayan letter from Achin that in 1791 the peace of the capital was much disturbed, and the state of the government as well as of private property (which induced the writer to reship his goods) precarious.

1805.

In 1805 his son, then aged twenty-one, was on the throne, and had a contention with his paternal uncle, and at the same time his father-in-law, named Tuanku Raja, by whom he had been compelled to fly (but only for a short time) to Pidir, the usual asylum of the Achinese monarchs. Their quarrel appears to have been rather of a family than of a political nature, and to have proceeded from the irregular conduct of the queen-mother. The low state of this young king's finances, impoverished by a fruitless struggle to enforce, by means of an expensive marine establishment, his right to an exclusive trade, had induced him to make proposals, for mutual accommodation, to the English government of Pulo Pinang.*

(*Footnote. Since the foregoing was printed the following information respecting the manners of the Batta people, obtained by Mr. Charles Holloway from Mr. W.H. Hayes, has reached my hands. "In the month of July 1805 an expedition consisting of Sepoys, Malays, and Battas was sent from Tapanuli against a chief named Punei Manungum, residing at Nega-timbul, about thirty miles inland from Old Tapanuli, in consequence of his having attacked a kampong under the protection of the company, murdered several of the inhabitants, and carried others into captivity. After a siege of three days, terms of accommodation being proposed, a cessation of hostilities took place, when the people of each party having laid aside their arms intermixed with the utmost confidence, and conversed together as if in a state of perfect amity. The terms however not proving satisfactory, each again retired to his arms and renewed the contest with their former inveteracy. On the second day the place was evacuated, and upon our people entering it Mr. Hayes found the bodies of one man and two women, whom the enemy had put to death before their departure (being the last remaining of sixteen prisoners whom they had originally carried off), and from whose legs large pieces had been cut out, evidently for the purpose of being eaten. During the progress of this expedition a small party had been sent to hold in check the chiefs of Labusukum and Singapollum (inland of Sibogah), who were confederates of Punei Manungum. These however proved stronger than was expected, and, making a sally from their kampongs, attacked the sergeant's party and killed a sepoy, whom he was obliged to abandon. Mr. Hayes, on his way from Negatimbul, was ordered to march to the support of the retreating party; but these having taken a different route he remained ignorant of the particulars of their loss. The village of Singapollam being immediately carried by storm, and the enemy retreating by one gate, as our people entered at the opposite, the accoutrements of the sepoy who had been killed the day before were seen hanging as trophies in the front of the houses, and in the town hall, Mr. Hayes saw the head entirely scalped, and one of the fingers fixed upon a fork or skewer, still warm from the fire. On proceeding to the village of Labusucom, situated little more than two hundred yards from the former, he found a large plantain leaf full of human flesh, mixed with lime-juice and chili-pepper, from which he inferred that they had been surprised in the very act of feasting on the sepoy, whose body had been divided between the two kampongs. Upon differences being settled with the chiefs they acknowledged with perfect sangfroid that such had been the case, saying at the same time, "you know it is our custom; why should we conceal it?")

CHAPTER 23.

BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE ISLANDS LYING OFF THE WESTERN COAST OF SUMATRA.

ISLANDS ADJACENT TO SUMATRA.

The chain of islands which extends itself in a line nearly parallel to the western coast, at the distance from it of little more than a degree, being immediately connected with the principal subject of this work, and being themselves inhabited by a race or races of people apparently from the same original stock as those of the interior of Sumatra, whose genuineness of character has been preserved to a remarkable degree (whilst the islands on the eastern side are uniformly peopled with Malays), I have thought it expedient to add such authentic information respecting them as I have been enabled to obtain; and this I feel to be the more necessary from observing in the maps to which I have had recourse so much error and confusion in applying the names that the identity and even the existence of some of them have been considered as doubtful.

ENGANO.

Of these islands the most southern is Engano, which is still but very imperfectly known, all attempts to open a friendly communication with the natives having hitherto proved fruitless; and in truth they have had but too much reason to consider strangers attempting to land on their coast as piratical enemies. In the voyage of J.J. Saar, published in 1662, we have an account of an expedition fitted out from Batavia in 1645 for the purpose of examining this island, which terminated in entrapping and carrying off with them sixty or seventy of the inhabitants, male and female. The former died soon after their arrival, refusing to eat any other food than coconuts, but the women, who were distributed amongst the principal families of Batavia, proved extremely tractable and docile, and acquired the language of the place. It is not stated, nor does it appear from any subsequent publication, that the opportunity was taken of forming a collection of their words.

From that period Engano had only been incidentally noticed, until in March 1771 Mr. Richard Wyatt, then governor, and the council of Fort Marlborough, sent Mr. Charles Miller in a vessel belonging to the Company to explore the productions of this island. On approaching it he observed large plantations of coconut-trees, with several spots of ground cleared for cultivation on the hills, and at night many fires on the beach. Landing was found to be in most parts extremely difficult on account of the surf. Many of the natives were seen armed with lances and squatting down amongst the coral rocks, as if to conceal their numbers. Upon rowing into a bay with the ship's boat it was pursued by ten canoes full of men and obliged to return. Mr. Whalfeldt, the surveyor, and the second mate proceeded to make a survey of the bay and endeavour to speak with the natives. They were furnished with articles for presents, and, upon seeing a canoe on the beach of a small island, and several people fishing on the rocks, they rowed to the island and sent two caffrees on shore with some cloth, but the natives would not come near them. The mate then landed and advanced towards them, when they immediately came to him. He distributed some presents among them, and they in return gave him some fish. Several canoes came off to the ship with coconuts, sugar-cane, toddy, and a species of yam. The crew of one of them took an opportunity of unshipping and carrying away the boat's rudder, and upon a musket being fired over their heads many of them leaped into the sea.

Mr. Miller describes these people as being taller and fairer than the Malays, their hair black, which the men cut short, and the women wear long, and neatly turned up. The former go entirely naked except that they sometimes throw a piece of bark of tree, or plantain-leaf over their shoulders to protect them from the heat of the sun. The latter also are naked except a small slip of plantain-leaf round the waist; and some had on their heads fresh leaves made up nearly in the shape of a bonnet, with necklaces of small pieces of shell, and a shell hanging by a string, to be used as a comb. The ears of both men and women have large holes made in them, an inch or two in diameter, into which they put a ring made of coconut-shell or a roll of leaves. They do not chew betel. Their language was not understood by any person on board, although there were people from most parts adjacent to the coast. Their canoes are very neat, formed of two thin planks sewn together, sharp-pointed at each end and provided with outriggers. In general they contain six or seven men. They always carry lances, not only as offensive weapons, but for striking fish. These are about seven feet in length, formed of ni-bong and other hard woods; some of them tipped with pieces of bamboo made very sharp, and the concave part filled with fish-bones (and shark's teeth), others armed with pieces of bone made sharp and notched, and others pointed with bits of iron and copper sharpened. They seemed not to be unaccustomed to the sight of vessels. (Ships bound from the ports of India to the straits of Sunda, as well as those from Europe, when late in the season, frequently make the land of Engano, and many must doubtless be wrecked on its coast).

Attempts were made to find a river or fresh water, but without success, nor even a good place to land. Two of the people from the ship having pushed in among the rocks and landed the natives soon came to them, snatched their handkerchiefs off their heads and ran away with them, but dropped them on being pursued. Soon afterwards they sounded a conch-shell, which brought numbers of them down to the beach. The bay appeared to be well sheltered and to afford good anchorage ground. The soil of the country for the most part a red clay. The productions Mr. Miller thought the same as are commonly found on the coast of Sumatra; but circumstances did not admit of his penetrating into the country, which, contrary to expectation, was found to be so full of inhabitants. In consequence of the loss of anchors and cables it was judged necessary that the vessel should return to Fort Marlborough. Having taken in the necessary supplies, the island was revisited. Finding no landing-place, the boat was run upon the coral rocks. Signs were made to the natives, who had collected in considerable numbers, and upon seeing our people land had retreated towards some houses, to stop, but to no purpose until Mr. Miller proceeded towards them unaccompanied, when they approached in great numbers and accepted of knives, pieces of cloth, etc. Observing a spot of cultivated ground surrounded by a sort of fence he went to it, followed by several of the natives who made signs to deter him, and as soon as he was out of sight of his own people began to handle his clothes and attempt to pull them off, when he returned to the beach.

Their houses stand singly in their plantations, are circular, about eight feet in diameter, raised about six from the ground on slender iron-wood sticks, floored with planks, and the roof, which is thatched with long grass, rises from the floor in a conical shape. No rice was seen among them, nor did they appear to know the use of it when shown to them; nor were cattle nor fowls of any kind observed about their houses.

Having anchored off a low point of marshy land in the northern part of the bay, where the natives seemed to be more accustomed to intercourse with strangers, the party landed in hopes of finding a path to some houses about two miles inland. Upon observing signs made to them by some people on the coral reef Mr. Miller and Mr. Whalfeldt went towards them in the sampan, when some among them took an opportunity of stealing the latter's hanger and running away with it; upon which they were immediately fired at by some of the party, and notwithstanding Mr. Miller's endeavours to prevent them both the officer and men continued to fire upon and pursue the natives through the morass, but without being able to overtake them. Meeting however with some houses they set fire to them, and brought off two women and a boy whom the caffrees had seized. The officers on board the vessel, alarmed at the firing and seeing Mr. Miller alone in the sampan, whilst several canoes full of people were rowing towards him, sent the pinnace with some sepoys to his assistance. During the night conch-shells were heard to sound almost all over the bay, and in the morning several large parties were observed on different parts of the beach. All further communication with the inhabitants being interrupted by this imprudent quarrel, and the purposes of the expedition thereby frustrated, it was not thought advisable to remain any longer at Engano, and Mr. Miller, after visiting some parts of the southern coast of Sumatra, returned to Fort Marlborough.

PULO MEGA.

The next island to the north-west of Engano, but at a considerable distance, is called by the Malays Pulo Mega (cloud-island), and by Europeans Triste, or isle de Recif. It is small and uninhabited, and like many others in these seas is nearly surrounded by a coral reef with a lagoon in the centre. Coconut-trees grow in vast numbers in the sand near the sea-shore, whose fruit serves for food to rats and squirrels, the only quadrupeds found there. On the borders of the lagoon is a little vegetable mould, just above the level of high water, where grow some species of timber-trees.

PULO SANDING.

The name of Pulo Sanding or Sandiang belongs to two small islands situated near the south-eastern extremity of the Nassau or Pagi islands, in which group they are sometimes included. Of these the southernmost is distinguished in the Dutch charts by the term of Laag or low, and the other by that of Bergen or hilly. They are both uninhabited, and the only productions worth notice is the long nutmeg, which grows wild on them, and some good timber, particularly of the kind known by the name of marbau (Metrosideros amboinensis). An idea was entertained of making a settlement on one of them, and in 1769 an officer with a few men were stationed there for some months, during which period the rains were incessant. The scheme was afterwards abandoned as unlikely to answer any useful purpose.

NASSAUS OR PULO PAGI.

The two islands separated by a narrow strait, to which the Dutch navigators have given the name of the Nassaus, are called by the Malays Pulo Pagi or Pagei, and by us commonly the Poggies. The race of people by whom these as well as some other islands to the northward of them are inhabited having the appellation of orang mantawei, this has been confounded with the proper names of the islands, and, being applied sometimes to one and sometimes to another, has occasioned much confusion and uncertainty. The earliest accounts we have of them are the reports of Mr. Randolph Marriot in 1749, and of Mr. John Saul in 1750 and 1751, with Captain Thomas Forrest's observations in 1757, preserved in Mr. Dalrymple's Historical Relation of the several Expeditions from Fort Marlborough to the Islands adjacent to the West-coast of Sumatra; but by much the most satisfactory information is contained in a paper communicated by Mr. John Crisp to the Asiatic Society of Bengal, in the sixth volume of whose Transactions it is published, and from these documents I shall extract such particulars as may best serve to convey a knowledge of the country and the people.

Mr. Crisp sailed from Fort Marlborough on the 12th of August 1792 in a vessel navigated at his own expense, and with no other view than that of gratifying a liberal curiosity. On the 14th he anchored in the straits of See Cockup (Si Kakap), which divide the Northern from the Southern Pagi. These straits are about two miles in length and a quarter of a mile over, and make safe riding for ships of any size, which lie perfectly secure from every wind, the water being literally as smooth as in a pond. The high land of Sumatra (inland of Moco-moco and Ipu) was plainly to be distinguished from thence. In the passage are scattered several small islands, each of which consists of one immense rock, and which may have been originally connected with the main island. The face of the country is rough and irregular, consisting of high hills of sudden and steep ascent, and covered with trees to their summits, among which the species called bintangur or puhn, fit for the largest masts, abounds. The sago-tree grows in plenty, and constitutes the chief article of food to the inhabitants, who do not cultivate rice. The use of betel is unknown to them. Coconut-trees, bamboos, and the common fruits of Sumatra are found here. The woods are impervious to man: the species of wild animals that inhabit them but few; the large red deer, hogs, and several kinds of monkey, but neither buffaloes nor goats; nor are they infested with tigers or other beasts of prey; They have the common domestic fowl, but pork and fish are the favourite animal food of the natives.

When the vessel had been two days at anchor they began to come down from their villages in their canoes, bringing fruit of various kinds, and on invitation they readily came on board without showing signs of apprehension or embarrassment. On presenting to them plates of boiled rice they would not touch it until it had been previously tasted by one of the ship's company. They behaved whilst on board with much decorum, showed a strong degree of curiosity, but not the least disposition for pilfering. They appeared to live in great friendship and harmony with each other, and voluntarily divided amongst their companions what was given to them. Their stature seldom exceeds five feet and a half. Their colour is like that of the Malays, a light brown or copper-colour. Some canoes came alongside the vessel with only women in them, and upon being encouraged by the men several ventured on board. When on the water they use a temporary dress to shield them from the heat of the sun, made of the leaves of the plantain, of which they form a sort of conical cap (the same was observed of the women of Engano), and there is also a broad piece of the leaf fastened round the body over their breasts, and another round their waist. This leaf readily splits, and has the appearance of a coarse fringe. When in their villages the women, like the men, wear only a small piece of coarse cloth, made of the bark of a tree, round their middle. Beads and other ornaments are worn about the neck. Although coconuts are in such plenty they have not the use of oil, and their hair, which is black, and naturally long, is, for want of it and the use of combs, in general matted and full of vermin. They have a method of filing or grinding their teeth to a point, like the people of Sumatra.

The number of inhabitants of the two islands is supposed not to exceed 1400 persons. They are divided into small tribes, each occupying a small river and living in one village. On the southern island are five of these villages, and on the northern seven, of which Kakap is accounted the chief, although Labu-labu is supposed to contain the greater number of people. Their houses are built of bamboos and raised on posts; the under part is occupied by poultry and hogs, and, as may be supposed, much filth is collected there. Their arms consist of a bow and arrows. The former is made of the nibong-tree, and the string of the entrails of some animal. The arrows are of small bamboo, headed with brass or with a piece of hard wood cut to a point. With these they kill deer, which are roused by dogs of a mongrel breed, and also monkeys, whose flesh they eat. Some among them wear krises. It was said that the different tribes of orang mantawei who inhabit these islands never make war upon each other, but with people of islands to the northward they are occasionally in a state of hostility. The measurement of one of their war-canoes, preserved with great care under a shed, was twenty-five feet in the length of the floor, the prow projecting twenty-two, and the stern eighteen, making the whole length sixty-five feet. The greatest breadth was five feet, and the depth three feet eight inches. For navigating in their rivers and the straits of Si Kakap, where the sea is as smooth as glass, they employ canoes, formed with great neatness of a single tree, and the women and young children are extremely expert in the management of the paddle. They are strangers to the use of coin of any kind, and have little knowledge of metals. The iron bill or chopping-knife, called parang, is in much esteem among them, it serves as a standard for the value of other commodities, such as articles of provision.

The religion of these people, if it deserves the name, resembles much what has been described of the Battas; but their mode of disposing of their dead is different, and analogous rather to the practice of the South-sea islanders, the corpse, being deposited on a sort of stage in a place appropriated for the purpose, and with a few leaves strewed over it, is left to decay. Inheritance is by male descent; the house or plantation, the weapons and tools of the father, become the property of the sons. Their chiefs are but little distinguished from the rest of the community by authority or possessions, their pre-eminence being chiefly displayed at public entertainments, of which they do the honours. They have not even judicial powers, all disputes being settled, and crimes adjudged, by a meeting of the whole village. Murder is punishable by retaliation, for which purpose the offender is delivered over to the relations of the deceased, who may put him to death; but the crime is rare. Theft, when to a considerable amount, is also capital. In cases of adultery the injured husband has a right to seize the effects of the paramour, and sometimes punishes his wife by cutting off her hair. When the husband offends the wife has a right to quit him and to return to her parents' house. Simple fornication between unmarried persons is neither considered as a crime nor a disgrace. The state of slavery is unknown among these people, and they do not practise circumcision.

The custom of tattooing, or imprinting figures on the skin, is general among the inhabitants of this group of islands. They call it in their language teetee or titi. They begin to form these marks on boys at seven years of age, and fill them up as they advance in years. Mr. Crisp thinks they were originally intended as marks of military distinction. The women have a star imprinted on each shoulder, and generally some small marks on the backs of their hands. These punctures are made with an instrument consisting of a brass wire fixed perpendicularly into a piece of stick about eight inches in length. The pigment made use of is the smoke collected from dammar, mixed with water (or, according to another account, with the juice of the sugar-cane). The operator takes a stalk of dried grass, or a fine piece of stick, and, dipping the end in the pigment, traces on the skin the outline of the figure, and then, dipping the brass point in the same preparation, with very quick and light strokes of a long, small stick, drives it into the skin, whereby an indelible mark is produced. The pattern when completed is in all the individuals nearly the same.

In the year 1783 the son of a raja of one of the Pagi islands came over to Sumatra on a visit of curiosity, and, being an intelligent man, much information was obtained from him. He could give some account of almost every island that lies off the coast, and when a doubt arose about their position he ascertained it by taking the rind of a pumplenose or shaddock, and, breaking it into bits of different sizes, disposing them on the floor in such a manner as to convey a clear idea of the relative situation. He spoke of Engano (by what name is not mentioned) and said that their boats were sometimes driven to that island, on which occasions they generally lost a part, if not the whole, of their crews, from the savage disposition of the natives. He appeared to be acquainted with several of the constellations, and gave names for the Pleiades, Scorpion, Great Bear, and Orion's Belt. He understood the distinction between the fixed and wandering stars, and particularly noticed Venus, which he named usutat-si-geb-geb or planet of the evening. To Sumatra he gave the appellation of Seraihu. As to religion he said the rajas alone prayed and sacrificed hogs and fowls. They addressed themselves in the first place to the Power above the sky; next to those in the moon, who are male and female; and lastly, to that evil being whose residence is beneath the earth, and is the cause of earthquakes. A drawing of this man, representing accurately the figures in which his body and limbs were tattooed, was made by Colonel Trapaud, and obligingly given to me. He not only stood patiently during the performance, but seemed much pleased with the execution, and proposed that the Colonel should accompany him to his country to have an opportunity of making a likeness of his father. To our collectors of rare prints it is well known that there exists an engraving of a man of this description by the title of The Painted Prince, brought to England by Captain Dampier from one of the islands of the eastern sea in the year 1691, and of whom a particular account is given in his Voyage. He said that the inhabitants of the Pagi islands derived their origin from the orang mantawei of the island called Si Biru.

SI PORAH OR GOOD FORTUNE.

North-westward of the Pagi islands, and at no great distance, lies that of Si Porah, commonly denominated Good Fortune Island, inhabited by the same race as the former, and with the same manners and language. The principal towns or villages are named Si Porah, containing, when visited by Mr. John Saul in 1750, three hundred inhabitants, Si Labah three hundred (several of whom were originally from the neighbouring island of Nias), Si Bagau two hundred, and Si Uban a smaller number; and when Captain Forrest made his inquiries in 1757 there was not any material variation. Since that period, though the island has been occasionally visited, it does not appear that any report has been preserved of the state of the population. The country is described as being entirely covered with wood. The highest land is in the vicinity of Si Labah.

SI BIRU.

The next island in the same direction is named Si Biru, which, although of considerable size, being larger than Si Porah, has commonly been omitted in our charts, or denoted to be uncertain. It is inhabited by the Mantawei race, and the natives both of Si Porah and the Pagi Islands consider it as their parent country, but notwithstanding this connexion they are generally in a state of hostility, and in 1783 no intercourse subsisted between them. The inhabitants are distinguished only by some small variety of the patterns in which their skins are tattooed, those of Si Biru having them narrower on the breast and broader on the shoulders. The island itself is rendered conspicuous by a volcano-mountain.

PULO BATU.

Next to this is Pulo Batu, situated immediately to the southward of the equinoctial line, and, in consequence of an original mistake in Valentyn's erroneous chart, published in 1726, usually called by navigators Mintaon, being a corruption of the word Mantawei, which, as already explained, is appropriated to a race inhabiting the islands of Si Biru, Si Porah, and Pagi. Batu, on the contrary, is chiefly peopled by a colony from Nias. These pay a yearly tax to the raja of Buluaro, a small kampong in the interior part of the island, belonging to a race different from both, and whose number it is said amounts only to one hundred, which it is not allowed to exceed, so many children being reared as may replace the deaths. They are reported to bear a resemblance to the people of Makasar or Bugis, and may have been adventurers from that quarter. The influence of their raja over the Nias inhabitants, who exceed his immediate subjects in the proportion of twenty to one, is founded on the superstitious belief that the water of the island will become salt when they neglect to pay the tax. He in his turn, being in danger from the power of the Malay traders who resort thither from Padang and are not affected by the same superstition, is constrained to pay them to the amount of sixteen ounces of gold as an annual tribute.

The food of the people, as in the other islands, is chiefly sago, and their exports coconuts, oil in considerable quantities, and swala or sea-slugs. No rice is planted there, nor, if we may trust to the Malayan accounts, suffered to be imported. Upon the same authority also we are told that the island derives its name of Batu from a large rock resembling the hull of a vessel, which tradition states to be a petrifaction of that in which the Buluaro people arrived. The same fanciful story of a petrified boat is prevalent in the Serampei country of Sumatra. From Natal Hill Pulo Batu is visible. Like the islands already described it is entirely covered with wood.

PULO KAPINI.

Between Pulo Batu and the coast of Sumatra, but much nearer to the latter, is a small uninhabited island, called Pulo Kapini (iron-wood island), but to which our charts (copying from Valentyn) commonly give the name of Batu, whilst to Batu itself, as above described, is assigned the name of Mintaon. In confirmation of the distinctions here laid down it will be thought sufficient to observe that, when the Company's packet, the Greyhound, lay at what was called Lant's Bay in Mintaon, an officer came to our settlement of Natal (of which Mr. John Marsden at that time was chief) in a Batu oil-boat; and that a large trade for oil is carried on from Padang and other places with the island of Batu, whilst that of Kapini is known to be without inhabitants, and could not supply the article.

PULO NIAS.

The most productive and important, if not the largest of this chain of islands, is Pulo Nias. Its inhabitants are very numerous, and of a race distinct not only from those on the main (for such we must relatively consider Sumatra), but also from the people of all the islands to the southward, with the exception of the last-mentioned. Their complexions, especially the women, are lighter than those of the Malays; they are smaller in their persons and shorter in stature; their mouths are broad, noses very flat, and their ears are pierced and distended in so extraordinary a manner as nearly, in many instances, to touch the shoulders, particularly when the flap has, by excessive distension or by accident, been rent asunder; but these pendulous excrescences are commonly trimmed and reduced to the ordinary size when they are brought away from their own country. Preposterous however as this custom may appear, it is not confined to the Nias people. Some of the women of the inland parts of Sumatra, in the vicinity of the equinoctial line (especially those of the Rau tribes) increase the perforation of their ears until they admit ornaments of two or three inches diameter. There is no circumstance by which the natives of this island are more obviously distinguished than the prevalence of a leprous scurf with which the skins of a great proportion of both sexes are affected; in some cases covering the whole of the body and limbs, and in others resembling rather the effect of the tetter or ringworm, running like that partial complaint in waving lines and concentric curves. It is seldom if ever radically cured, although by external applications (especially in the slighter cases) its symptoms are moderated, and a temporary smoothness given to the skin; but it does not seem in any stage of the disease to have a tendency to shorten life, or to be inconsistent with perfect health in other respects, nor is there reason to suppose it infectious; and it is remarkable that the inhabitants of Pulo Batu, who are evidently of the same race, are exempt from this cutaneous malady. The principal food of the common people is the sweet-potato, but much pork is also eaten by those who can afford it, and the chiefs make a practice of ornamenting their houses with the jaws of the hogs, as well as the skulls of the enemies whom they slay. The cultivation of rice has become extensive in modern times, but rather as an article of traffic than of home consumption.

These people are remarkable for their docility and expertness in handicraft work, and become excellent house-carpenters and joiners, and as an instance of their skill in the arts they practise that of letting blood by cupping, in a mode nearly similar to ours. Among the Sumatrans blood is never drawn with so salutary an intent. They are industrious and frugal, temperate and regular in their habits, but at the same time avaricious, sullen, obstinate, vindictive, and sanguinary. Although much employed as domestic slaves (particularly by the Dutch) they are always esteemed dangerous in that capacity, a defect in their character which philosophers will not hesitate to excuse in an independent people torn by violence from their country and connexions. They frequently kill themselves when disgusted with their situation or unhappy in their families, and often their wives at the same time, who appeared, from the circumstances under which they were found, to have been consenting to the desperate act. They were both dressed in their best apparel (the remainder being previously destroyed), and the female, in more than one instance that came under notice, had struggled so little as not to discompose her hair or remove her head from the pillow. It is said that in their own country they expose their children by suspending them in a bag from a tree, when they despair of being able to bring them up. The mode seems to be adopted with the view of preserving them from animals of prey, and giving them a chance of being saved by persons in more easy circumstances.

The island is divided into about fifty small districts, under chiefs or rajas who are independent of, and at perpetual variance with, each other; the ultimate object of their wars being to make prisoners, whom they sell for slaves, as well as all others not immediately connected with them, whom they can seize by stratagem. These violences are doubtless encouraged by the resort of native traders from Padang, Natal, and Achin to purchase cargoes of slaves, who are also accused of augmenting the profits of their voyage by occasionally surprising and carrying off whole families. The number annually exported is reckoned at four hundred and fifty to Natal, and one hundred and fifty to the northern ports (where they are said to be employed by the Achinese in the gold-mines), exclusive of those which go to Padang for the supply of Batavia, where the females are highly valued and taught music and various accomplishments. In catching these unfortunate victims of avarice it is supposed that not fewer than two hundred are killed; and if the aggregate be computed at one thousand it is a prodigious number to be supplied from the population of so small an island.

Beside the article of slaves there is a considerable export of padi and rice, the cultivation of which is chiefly carried on at a distance from the sea-coasts, whither the natives retire to be secure from piratical depredations, bringing down the produce to the harbours (of which there are several good ones), to barter with the traders for iron, steel, beads, tobacco, and the coarser kinds of Madras and Surat piece-goods. Numbers of hogs are reared, and some parts of the main, especially Barus, are supplied from hence with yams, beans, and poultry. Some of the rajas are supposed to have amassed a sum equal to ten or twenty thousand dollars, which is kept in ingots of gold and silver, much of the latter consisting of small Dutch money (not the purest coin) melted down; and of these they make an ostentatious display at weddings and other festivals.

The language scarcely differs more from the Batta and the Lampong than these do from each other, and all evidently belong to the same stock. The pronunciation is very guttural, and either from habit or peculiar conformation of organs these people cannot articulate the letter p, but in Malayan words, where the sound occurs, pronounce it as f (saying for example Fulo Finang instead of Pulo Pinang), whilst on the contrary the Malays never make use of the f, and pronounce as pikir the Arabic word fikir. Indeed the Arabians themselves appear to have the same organic defect as the people of Nias, and it may likewise be observed in the languages of some of the South-sea islands.

PULO NAKO-NAKO.

On the western side of Nias and very near to it is a cluster of small islands called Pulo Nako-nako, whose inhabitants (as well as others who shall presently be noticed) are of a race termed Maros or orang maruwi, distinct from those of the former, but equally fair-complexioned. Large quantities of coconut-oil are prepared here and exported chiefly to Padang, the natives having had a quarrel with the Natal traders. The islands are governed by a single raja, who monopolizes the produce, his subjects dealing only with him, and he with the praws or country vessels who are regularly furnished with cargoes in the order of their arrival, and never dispatched out of turn.

PULO BABI.

Pulo Babi or Hog island, called by the natives Si Malu, lies north-westward from Nias, and, like Nako-Nako, is inhabited by the Maruwi race. Buffaloes (and hogs, we may presume) are met with here in great plenty and sold cheap.

PULO BANIAK.

The name of Pulo Baniak belongs to a cluster of islands (as the terms imply) situated to the eastward, or in-shore of Pulo Babi, and not far from the entrance of Singkel River. It is however most commonly applied to one of them which is considerably larger than the others. It does not appear to furnish any vegetable produce as an article of trade, and the returns from thence are chiefly sea-slug and the edible birds-nest. The inhabitants of these islands also are Maruwis, and, as well as the others of the same race, are now Mahometans. Their language, although considered by the natives of these parts as distinct and peculiar (which will naturally be the case where people do not understand each other's conversation), has much radical affinity to the Batta and Nias, and less to the Pagi; but all belong to the same class, and may be regarded as dialects of a general language prevailing amongst the original inhabitants of this eastern archipelago, as far at least as the Moluccas and Philippines.

THE END.



INDEX.

Achin or Acheh: kingdom of, its boundaries. Situation, buildings, and appearance of the capital. Air esteemed healthy. Inhabitants described. Present state of commerce. Productions of soil, manufactures, navigation. Coin, government. Officers of state, ceremonies. Local division. Revenues, duties. Administration of justice and punishments. History of. State of the kingdom at the time when Malacca fell into the hands of the Portuguese. Circumstances which placed Ibrahim, a slave of the king of Pidir, on the throne. Rises to considerable importance during the reign of Mansur-shah. King of, receives a letter from Queen Elizabeth. Letter from King James the First. Commencement of female reigns. Their termination. Subsequent events.