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are three crowned kings who are Pagans, and their faith, their manner of living, dress, and customs, are the same as in Tar

Samara the chief kingdom in the island, for he says of its people :“Hanno re grande e potente, e chiamansi per il Gran Can." Ramusio, vol. ii, p. 52.

Varthema greatly exaggerates the extent of the island, which is "about 1,000 miles in length, its extreme ends being its narrowest parts, and its centre its broadest. Its area is reckoned at 128,560 geographical square miles." (Desc. Dict., p. 414.) Prior to the publication of his book, our traveller appears to have had some discussions with the learned men of Europe, consequent on his own discovery, respecting the ancient geography of the island, which led him, as it did many others, to identify it with the Taprobana of Ptolemy. The locality of that famous island was a vexed question at the end of the sixteenth century, for Patavino in describing Sumatra writes :-"Hanc Insulam antiquorum Taprobanam fuisse omnes penè auctores sentiunt, licet aliqui magnæ eruditionis viri ipsam Auream fuisse Chersonesum putent, ac ob id antiquis ceu peninsulam creditam fuisse." And, again, under the head of Ceylon :"ZEILAN verò insula præstantissima est, quæ...antiquam fuisse Ptolemæi Taprobanam Andreas Corsalus et Joannes Barrius cum plerisque alijs censent; Mercator verò, cui magis in hac re fidem præstamus, putat esse Ptolemæi Nanigerim." Geographia, pp. 26.

With respect to the government of Sumatra, it has been already mentioned that Marco Polo divided the island into eight kingdoms, one of which was Felich, where the inhabitants of the coast had embraced Muhammedanism, "by frequent trade with the Saracens ; but those who dwelt in the mountains were still like beasts." Varthema diminished the number to "iii Re di corona," which probably comprised only those of the principal states on the eastern side; Odoardo Barbosa says the island has "molti regni di quali il principal è Pedir della banda di tramontana;" while De Barros enumerates no less than twenty-nine on the sea-board alone, of which Pedir, then an independent sovereignty, is one. Patavino sums up the information acquired on this subject up to the end of the sixteenth century in these words :-" Scribunt quidam universam hanc insulam in quatuor regna esse divisam alii in decem, alii autem in 29. ex quibus nota sunt tantummodo decem: nempe Regnum Pedir, quod cæteris præstat; Pazem seu Pacem; Achem seu Acem; Campar; Menancabo, quod est fundamentum divitiarum, universæ insulæ, cùm in eo sint mineræ auri opulentissimæ ; et regnum Zunde: et hæc quidem sex regna sunt circa littus ipsius insulæ, ac à Mauris occupata olim fuêre." (Id., p. 265.) The last remark agrees with De Barros as quoted by Crawfurd :-" The inhabitants of the coast follow the sect of Muhammed;" nevertheless, Varthema's account, which makes some

nassari, and the wives also are burnt alive. The colour of these inhabitants is almost white, and they have the face broad, and the eyes round and green. Their hair is long, the nose broad and flat, and they are of small stature. Here justice is strictly administered, as in Calicut. Their money is gold, and silver, and tin, all stamped. Their golden money has on one side a devil, on the other there is something resembling a chariot drawn by elephants: the same on the silver of the sovereigns Hindu by religion, and more especially the reigning king of Pedir, is too circumstantial to be set aside by any general descriptions of an island of such vast extent, and comparatively so little known to the best Portuguese historians of that age. Moreover, Varthema had become well versed in the externals, at least, of Muhammedanism, and was not likely to confound the observances of Paganism with those of Islam. In the absence, therefore, of any definite proof to the contrary, I see no reason to discredit this part of his narrative, more especially as we have Crawfurd's authority for believing that "the people of Sumatra had certainly adopted a kind of Hinduism, and this is sufficiently attested by an examination of their languages, and even by a few monuments and inscriptions." Desc. Dict., p. 419.

1 De Barros, as quoted by Crawfurd, says: "The people of the coast, as well as of the interior of the island, are all of a yellowish-brown colour (baço), having flowing hair, are well made, of a goodly aspect, and do not resemble the Javanese, although so near to them." Id., p. 419. He does not mention the "green eyes.”

2 The same remark is made of the country by Hamilton:-"No place in the world punishes theft with greater severity than Atcheen, and yet robberies and murders are more frequent there than in any other place. For the first fault, if the theft does not amount to a tayel value, it is but the loss of a hand or a foot, and the criminal may choose which he will part with; and, if caught a second time, the same punishment and loss is used; but the third time, or if they steal five tayel in value, that crime entitles them to souling or impaling alive. When their hand or foot is to be cut off, they have a block with a broad hatchet fixed in it, with the edge upwards, on which the limb is laid, and struck on with a wooden mallet, till the amputation is made, and they have a hollow bamboo, or Indian cane, ready to put the stump in, and stopped about with rags or moss, to keep the blood from coming out, and are set in a conspicuous place for travellers to gaze on, who generally bestow a little spittle in a pot, being what is produced by the mastication of beetel, and that serves them instead of salve to cure their wounds." PINKERTON, vol. viii. p. 446.

and tin money.1 Of the silver coin ten go to a ducat, and of those of tin, twenty-five. Elephants in immense quantities are produced here, which are the largest I ever saw. These people are not warlike, but attend to their merchandise, and are very great friends of foreigners.

1 Crawfurd says that prior to the arrival of the Europeans, the natives of the Archipelago generally had no other coin than small bits of copper, brass, tin, or zinc, though he subjoins that "the Javanese appear to have coined some of their own money, as we find from many examples excavated from their own temples and other places. These contain impressions of scenic figures, such as are still represented in their dramas, called wayang or shadows, but having no date, and, indeed, no written characters, until after their adoption of Mahommedanism," which was not till towards the end of the fifteenth century. He further excepts Achin, the state adjoining, (which probably comprised Pedir in Varthema's time,) and remarks as follows:-" The only native country of the Archipelago in which a coin of the precious metals seems ever to have been coined is Achin. This is of gold, of the weight of nine grains, and of about the value of 14d. sterling...All the coins of this description which have been made are inscribed with Arabic characters, and bear the names of the sovereigns under whom they were struck, so that they are comparatively modern." (Desc. Dict., p. 286.) As a Muhammedan king was reigning in Sumatra when Ibn Batûta visited that island, similar coins may have been current then; but, be that as it may, Varthema's account fully proves that such "stamped" money existed at the time of his visit, and I see no reason for doubting that it comprised, as he states, coins of silver and of tin, as well as of gold. It is by no means improbable, however, that some of the coined money at Achin was imported, through the ordinary transactions of trade, from different parts of India; but I have searched Marsden's Numismata Orientalia in vain for a counterpart of the Sumatran device—a chariot drawn by elephants—on any of the early Indian coinage. That Indian coins had obtained a certain degree of circulation in the Archipelago at this period, may be inferred from Varthema's statement regarding Banda, one of the Nutmeg Islands: "La moneta corre quì alla usanza di Calicut." See the chapter “Concerning the Islands of Bandan."

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING ANOTHER SORT OF PEPPER, AND CONCERNING silk, and benzOIN, WHICH ARE PRODUCED IN THE SAID CITY OF PIDER.

In this country of Pider1 there grows a very great quantity of pepper, and of long pepper which is called Molaga. This said kind of pepper is larger than that which comes here to us, and is very much whiter, and within it is hollow, and is not so biting as that of ours, and weighs very little, and is sold here in the same manner as cereals are sold with us.2 And you must know that in this port there are laden with it every year eighteen or twenty ships, all of which go

1 Pider, or "Pedir, is the name of a Malay state on the eastern side of Sumatra, and comprising that portion of the sea-board of the island which extends from Diamond Point, the Tanjung-pârlak of the Malays, to Achin...It was the first spot in the Archipelago at which the Portuguese touched, and they found it carrying on some foreign trade, being frequented by ships from different parts of the continent of India. At present it is a place of no moment, except for its export of the areca-nut and a little pepper which is carried to the British settlement of Penang. The principal town, bearing the same name, is situated on a small river, a little east of a headland, which is in north latitude 5° 29′ and east longitude 96°." Id., 330-1.

2 Being uncertain whether this was the Piper longum of botanists, I consulted Mr. Bennett of the British Museum, whose kindness I have already had occasion to acknowledge, and append his note in reply :— "There can be no doubt that the second kind of pepper referred to by Varthema is the same as that which we now call long pepper. His account exactly tallies with it in every respect, and is singularly correct, as indeed most of his descriptions are." Crawfurd says: "This commodity is probably a native of Java, although now grown in other countries of the Archipelago," and then remarks: "it is singular that it is not named by Barbosa, but there can be little doubt but that it must have been an article of trade in his time." (Desc. Dict., p. 335.) It is mentioned by Pigafetta, Barbosa's companion, as growing in one of the Banda islands, and he describes it thus :-" The long pepper grows on a plant or tree like the ivy, that is, it is flexible, and rests on other trees, the fruit hangs on the stem, and the leaf is like that of the mulberry. It is called luli." (RAMUSIO, vol. i. p. 368.) Conti also enumerates pepe lungo among the productions of Sumatra. Id., p. 339.

to Cathai, because they say that the extreme cold begins there. The tree which produces this pepper produces it long, but its vine is larger, and the leaf broader and softer, than that which grows in Calicut. An immense quantity of silk is produced in this country, a great deal is also made in the forests without being cultivated by any one. This, it is true, is not very good. A great quantity of benzoin is also produced here, which is the gum of a tree. Some say, for I have not seen it myself, that it grows at a considerable distance from the sea, on the mainland.

THE CHAPTER CONCERNING

ALOES-WOOD.

THREE SORTS OF

Inasmuch as it is the variety of objects which most delights and invites man, as well to read as to understand, it has therefore appeared to me well to add that of which I

1 It is singular that a similar statement is made by De Barros, who in describing the productions of Sumatra says: "It produces also silk in such quantity that there are cargoes of it sent to many parts of India;" whereon Crawfurd remarks :-" This is probably an error on the part of that usually reliable writer. I am not even aware that wild silk is produced in any of the insular forests such as it is found to be in many of those of Hindustan." The same author asserts, indeed, that "the culture of the mulberry and the rearing of the silk-worm have never been practised by the natives of the Archipelago, whether from the unsuitableness of this branch of industry to the climate, or to the state of society, is not ascertained." (Desc. Dict., p. 394.) The discrepancy is a wide one, and I can suggest nothing to reconcile the contradictory statements. It is noticeable, however, that Odoardo Barbosa does not enumerate silk among his list of the productions of Sumatra.

"Benzoin, the resin of the Styrax benzoni, obtained by wounding the bark. The plant, which is of moderate size, is an object of cultivation, the manner of culture being from the seed. The trees are ripe for the production of the resin at about seven years old, and the plant is the peculiar product of the islands of Borneo and Sumatra." Crawfurd thinks that it may be the malabathrum of the ancients. (Id., p. 50.) Benzoin is called by the Arabs Bakh-khûr Jâwi, Java incense.

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