ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

T H £
H I S T O R Y
' * .
O F
S U M A T R A.
Unknown to the Ancients—Situation—Name—General Defcription
of the Countryt its Mountains^ Lakes and Rivers—Air and
Meteors—Moonfoons, and Land^ and Sea-Breezes—Minerals and
jFofftls—Volcanos—Earthquakes—Surfs and Tides.
J. F antiquity holds up to us fome models, in different arts and fciences,
which have been found inimitable; the moderns, on the other hand,
have carried their inventions and improvements, in a variety of inftances,
to an extent and a degree of perfection, which the former could
entertain no' conception of. Among thofe difcoveries in which we have
Stepped fo far beyond our mafters, there is hone more Striking,- or more
emïnenLly ofLAal, t-l-inn the. mparn which the ingenuity of fbme and the
experience of .others, have taught mankind, of determining with certainty
and precifion the relative fituation of the various countries of the earth.
What was formerly the fubjeft of mere conjefture, or at beft of vague
and arbitrary computation, is now the clear refult of fettled rule, founded
upon principles demonstratively jiift. It only remains for the liberality
of princes and ftates, and the perfevering induftry of navigators
and travellers, to effeft the application of thefe means to their proper end,,
by continuing to afcertain the unknown and uncertain pofitions of all the
B parts*
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