The History of Sumatra | Page 3

possessions in the East Indies, should have exempted a nation to which
oriental learning is largely indebted from what I now consider as an
unmerited reflection.)
To form a general and tolerably accurate account of this country and its
inhabitants is a work attended with great and peculiar difficulties. The
necessary information is not to be procured from the people themselves,
whose knowledge and inquiries are to the last degree confined, scarcely
extending beyond the bounds of the district where they first drew
breath; and but very rarely have the almost impervious woods of
Sumatra been penetrated to any considerable distance from the sea
coast by Europeans, whose observations have been then imperfect,
trusted perhaps to memory only, or, if committed to paper, lost to the
world by their deaths. Other difficulties arise from the extraordinary
diversity of national distinctions, which, under a great variety of
independent governments, divide this island in many directions; and yet
not from their number merely, nor from the dissimilarity in their
languages or manners, does the embarrassment entirely proceed: the
local divisions are perplexed and uncertain; the extent of jurisdiction of
the various princes is inaccurately defined; settlers from different
countries and at different periods have introduced an irregular though
powerful influence that supersedes in some places the authority of the
established governments, and imposes a real dominion on the natives
where a nominal one is not assumed. This, in a course of years, is
productive of innovations that destroy the originality and genuineness
of their customs and manners, obliterate ancient distinctions, and
render confused the path of an investigator.
These objections, which seem to have hitherto proved unsurmountable
with such as might have been inclined to attempt the history of Sumatra,

would also have deterred me from an undertaking apparently so
arduous, had I not reflected that those circumstances in which consisted
the principal difficulty were in fact the least interesting to the public,
and of the least utility in themselves. It is of but small importance to
determine with precision whether a few villages on this or that
particular river belong to one petty chief or to another; whether such a
nation is divided into a greater or lesser number of tribes; or which of
two neighbouring powers originally did homage to the other for its title.
History is only to be prized as it tends to improve our knowledge of
mankind, to which such investigations contribute in a very small degree.
I have therefore attempted rather to give a comprehensive than a
circumstantial description of the divisions of the country into its
various governments; aiming at a more particular detail in what
respects the customs, opinions, arts, and industry of the original
inhabitants in their most genuine state. The interests of the European
powers who have established themselves on the island; the history of
their settlements, and of the revolutions of their commerce I have not
considered as forming a part of my plan; but these subjects, as
connected with the accounts of the native inhabitants and the history of
their governments, are occasionally introduced.
I was principally encouraged to this undertaking by the promises of
assistance I received from some ingenious and very highly esteemed
friends who resided with me in Sumatra. It has also been urged to me
here in England that, as the subject is altogether new, it is a duty
incumbent on me to lay the information I am in possession of, however
defective, before the public, who will not object to its being
circumscribed whilst its authenticity remains unimpeachable. This last
quality is that which I can with the most confidence take upon me to
vouch for. The greatest portion of what I have described has fallen
within the scope of my own immediate observation; the remainder is
either matter of common notoriety to every person residing in the
island, or received upon the concurring authority of gentlemen whose
situation in the East India Company's service, long acquaintance with
the natives, extensive knowledge of their language, ideas, and manners,
and respectability of character, render them worthy of the most implicit
faith that can be given to human testimony.

I have been the more scrupulously exact in this particular because my
view was not, ultimately, to write an entertaining book to which the
marvellous might be thought not a little to contribute, but sincerely and
conscientiously to add the small portion in my power to the general
knowledge of the age; to throw some glimmering light on the path of
the naturalist; and more especially to furnish those philosophers whose
labours have been directed to the investigation of the history of Man
with facts to serve as data in their reasonings, which are too often
rendered nugatory, and not seldom ridiculous, by assuming as truths the
misconceptions or wilful