“Here from the shore by rolling earthquakes hurl'd,
Through waves all foam, Sumatra’s isle was riv’n,
And, ‘mid white whirlpools, down the ocean driv’n.
To this fair isle, the Golden Chersonese,
Some deem the sapient monarch plough’d the seas;
Ophir its Tyrian name. In whirling roars
How fierce the tide boils down these clasping shores!
High from the strait the length’ning coast afar
Its moonlike curve points to the Northern Star,
Opening its bosom to the silver ray
When fair Aurora pours the infant day.”
First comes Sumatra, embracing the neck of the ‘Malay Peninsula, which we have grabbed. It is 1062 miles long, 260 broad, and 162,000 square miles in area. A chain of mountains runs from north to south—many are volcanoes. At the south it is separated from Java by the Straits of Sunda, where was the terrible Krakatau. The centre of the great island is still unexplored. The only well-known parts are Palembang, Benkulen, round Padang and Deli, and the Lampongs. Marco Polo spent five months here in 1291. When the Dutch drove the English out of Java in 1685 the latter built a fort and factory at Benkulen. In 1602 Queen Elizabeth sent a letter to the rich and important King of Acheen by Sir James Lancaster, and made a treaty with him. The British held Benkulen till 1824, when it was exchanged for Malacca. Owing to a reef, landing is somewhat difficult with a sea on, but it is a pretty place with a fort, and white houses shrouded in palms.
Lusé, about 12,100 feet,in Acheen, is the highest mountain. Lake Toba, an old crater, is 45 miles long by 15 broad. On the Equator is Mount Orphir, 9610 feet, a very conspicuous extinct volcano. Merapi is not extinct. Korinchi, 12,000 feet, is active. Krakatau Island lay in the Sunda Straits; when it disappeared 40,000 people perished. On the 20th of May 1883 explosions
