ÖÖI 8x 3 ^c- 0 - Acehbooks.org

a7o S U M A T R A ,
former of whom holds a grant under the Sultan of Menaugcahw, of the
fea cqaft, as far fouthward as Benconloo \ though in 1613 his poffefiions
extended no farther than to Barroos, and his actual claim did not reach
beyond Padang. All the early navigators who frequented this ifland;
of whom the moft intelligent and inquifitive was certainly the French
commodore, Beaulieu, who arrived in 1620 j fpeak of Menangcabow -,
cither directly or indireöly; as a place of the greateft importance;
particularly on account of the gold trade carried on, and almoft
monopolized by its inhabitants, and their iupplying the neighbouring
countries with creefes, fire arms and cloth. As they could have no
immediate connexion with an inland power, and the princes with whom
their commercial concerns lay, would not be forward to fet forth the
confequence of another ftate, by a comparifon with which their own- muft
fuffer, the accounts which navigators give of this empire are- obfcure and
imperfect, and but for the gold which flowed from it towards the fea coaft^
it probably would have pafled unnoticed in the hiftories of their-voyages.
The commodore fpeaks of the kings of A.heen, Palembang, and j>;dra~
pour, as independent fovereigns, but. as thefe avow the delegation of their
authority from Menangcabow» it. only proves that they had, by that pe«.
riod, lhaken off their fubje&iun to an empire, then declining from its
meridian, and finking in the gulph of time.*
* The following inftances have occurred to me, of mention made by writers, at diffident pe­
riods, of the kingdom of Menangcabow. Odoardus Barbofa, 1519. Ramufio. " Sumatra,
a. mo/1; large and beautiful ifland, Pedir the principal city; then PpCem,, Achetn, and.Camfcar.
Mqnatigcabo in the center, which is the principal fountain of gold-^Linfchoet^n, 1579. " At
Manancabo, excellent poignands made, called creefes ; beft weapon in all the orient. Iflands
along the coaft of Sumatra, called iflands of Menancaba. * You muft-run between the ilhas ti'Ouro
and the land. Put into the ifland called Mm 4'Ouro, de Menancaba, a high and fair land."—Men-
dez de Pinto, 15 5S. " Mentions foldiers of Menancaba in an army that invaded Acb(?n in. 1539,
Gold.tranfported from Menancaba to the kingdom of Camfar, on the waters of Jambee and
£r?ta>"—Lancafter, r602. " Menangcabo lies eight or ten leagues inland of Priaman"—Beft.
1613. " A man arrived from Menangcabao at.Tieao, and brtJught news from Jambee.-'—Beau-
lieu, 1622. " To the eaftward of Padang lies the kingdom of Manincabo. The moft powerful
king of the ebo.rogines refides between,that place and Ticoo, being poflefled of the country that
produces gold, which is trucked with the inhabitants of\M,ana»cabo^ fur. nee, arms, and cloth."—
D5 Barros: published about 1558. " Malacca had the epithet of aurea given to it, on account of
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