Thomas Dias’ journey to Central Sumatra in 1684

From: Daily Journals of Batavia Castle, ANRI HR 2497, beginning with fol. 1431. [1]

Honourable Sirs.[2]

After Your Excellencies had graciously commissioned me on 28 May [1684], following a voyage of thirteen[3] days I arrived on board the yacht the Orangie (lying at anchor off the harbour in the Siacase [Siak] River), from where having tarried there two days, I continued my journey to Patapan, where [I] arrived safely on the 20th of the said month[4] after seven days’[5] delay, and immediately handed over Your Excellencies’ letter to the Dato Bandara.[6] As is the custom of the country, this Dato Bandara was accompanied by a very large entourage and, observing the customary courtesies, he enquired after the health of His Excellency the Lord Governor, to which I replied that [I] had left the Governor in Malacca in good spirits. He also enquired if the Lord Governor would grant him permission to dispatch his gonting to Aceh. I replied to him [that] I trusted in an affirmative answer, and he said that he would go ahead as planned. After three days [spent] on the coast, I had sent the letters from Your Excellencies, including that to Paduca Tuan who is the regent of Ajertiris, delivered.[7] He has some 10,000 people in his territory, among whom are many merchants, and I commissioned some of them to sell the textiles of the Honourable Company, which was indeed done in the space of two months. Consequently some who came down to the yacht in search of them were unable to procure any.

Around this time a letter reached me from Sultan Siry Pada Moeda, King of Paggar Oejom, accompanied by an escort of nine persons, in which he summoned me to come to Paggar Oejom where he resided. Having made sure that the letter really did some from the said King, I decided to heed this summons from him, not least because I believed that the affairs of the Honourable Company are especially important there. I found almost twenty inhabitants of Patapan prepared to accompany me on this journey.

Because this expedition could not be accomplished without facing danger, for the reason that various rajas who live over the mountains in this region are suspicious of this correspondence between their chief ruler and the Honourable Company and consequently would not fail to seize the opportunity to obstruct it with every means at their disposal, hence, the general consensus was that this journey should not proceed along the well-trodden paths,[8] but should take to the forest despite the danger posed by robbers and wild animals, which would not readily attack so strong a party.

At this point so as to put an end to the delay, it was necessary to find an experienced guide and I ordered that such a man be found while I occupied myself with obtaining the necessary provisions and requisites. I had just spent about two days doing this when the admiral,[9] Captain Louw, came sailing up the Patapan River with trumpets blaring, and having moored in front of my residence he disembarked from his sloop to [meet] me on land. After I had welcomed him, when I enquired the reason for his arrival, he said he had orders to visit and investigate what had been happening. I asked him to produce this order, and thereupon the said admiral showed me a letter bearing neither name nor signature, which rapidly fed my suspicion that it was some ruse on his part to excuse his grandeur which completely exceeded the bounds of what was proper. Therefore I asked him to depart as soon as possible.

Despite this, he lingered there two days and, while I busied myself negotiating for all that I needed for my intended journey, I summoned the aforementioned twenty persons who were to accompany me. But they refused to present themselves and in no way honoured their promise. This change of heart was caused by Commander Schrieck and his wagging tongue. According to the Minangkabau, he had asked: ‘What business has Thomas Dias with the King? [Plans for] trade could not be made because the Governor would depart for Batavia within fourteen or fifteen days.’[10] I thereupon dispatched a [message] to almost fifty places to summon the great men of the Minangkabau among my acquaintance to come [to visit] me and twenty-five gave heed to this [summons] and came to ask what I wanted.

I declared to them that I had been sent there by Mr Cornelis van Quaalbergen, Governor of Malacca to inform the great men of that land of the upright intention of the Honourable Company to establish reciprocal [bonds of] friendship, correspondence and trade, and why for that reason I had been summoned by the King of Paggaruyung. I could produce proof of this by showing them His Majesty’s missive and, when they had read it, they presented me with the men who had escorted them to accompany me. Hence our journey began the next day. Altogether we were thirty-seven men strong as I also took ten crew members of the sloop who were prepared to risk their lives alongside mine in the service of the Honourable Company. By evening we had reached Air Tiris,[11] where we were asked what our destination was. When we answered Pagarruyung, they immediately replied: ‘You must not venture thither for no Christian has ever been there. Such a thing is unheard of.’ These words advised me of their foolish and too readily intemperate opinion, and to humour them [I replied]: ‘No, we are only going to journey another couple of days and then we shall return’, because we feared that brutal ignorance and intemperance might cause them to do us some harm.

The next day we journeyed onwards from there and made Belemby;[12] there we immediately had a similar confrontation to that we had had in Air Tiris and we allayed their qualms in a similar fashion. Having departed from there, we came to the town of Ridan, where we were met in the same way, and so by evening we reached Cata [Kota] Padan.[13] However, when the inhabitants were told that our intended goal was Pagarruyung, they refused us shelter so that we were forced to spend the night under a tree, keeping careful watch [and] clutching our weapons in our hands. At break of day we journeyed on and came to a river which we swam across and reached the town of Pacu,[14] and there they stood ready again bursting with questions about the goal of our journey. When they were informed it was Pagarruyung, they replied that if we had indeed spoken the truth we would not reach that place alive. As I had taken note of their bellicose nature, I said that we had almost reached our journey’s end, and would perhaps return by the morrow, which pleased them mightily and they said that this would be very good indeed.

Thenceforward we changed our route, and took that through the forest and over the mountains even though the guide told us of various dangers, quite apart from those posed by robbers and wild animals, including precipitous mountains, swamps, thorns and the like.

Terror seized the hearts of our Minangkabau companions. However after a great deal of encouragement they accepted our decision. We set out before the inhabitants of the town awoke so that they might remain ignorant of our route, and we marched through the forest for seven days without coming across a single hamlet. Finally, at the end of the stated number of days, we came to a small hamlet consisting of three to four houses standing in complete isolation to which we retired and rested there a whole day.

The next day at the crack of dawn we resumed our journey through the forest and came to a very high mountain called Pima[15] by the local people. Finally, after a ten-day march, [we] ended up in the town of Nugam,[16] about four miles from Pagarruyung. We rested there, having first dispatched nine[17] persons to announce our arrival on the orders of the Company and [bearing] letter of credence from Cornelis van Quaalbergen, Governor of Malacca, and to enquire if it would please His Majesty to take cognizance of our arrival and if he would graciously permit our further approach to His Majesty’s town and court. Shortly afterwards, the King sent a certain Raja Maliyo and 500 men carrying yellow royal standards to welcome me and to inform [me] that in the name of his Lord and King that His Majesty was delighted with my safe arrival, and [would] receive the embassy with great pleasure. To this he appended an invitation to me to enter into the town, which I politely declined, saying that it would extremely discourteous for any embassy or letter from His Excellency the Governor to be received by the King at night. Should the King wish to prove his friendship for the Honourable Company and the Governor of Malacca, this should take place on the morrow during the day. When he had received this reply, the said Raja Maliyo ordered 400 men to remain with me and keep good watch and, having commanded the inhabitants to welcome me wholeheartedly and to provide whatever I might desire, he returned to the King with the other hundred men.

At the break of dawn he returned to me carrying orders to receive both the letter of the Honourable Company and the Lord Governor and the embassy. Again I asked him to beseech His Majesty the King graciously to excuse us again that day and to postpone the same until the following day, because now that we had rested, we had discovered that we were exhausted, which indeed was the truth. Once our tranquillity and repose had been restored, our limbs felt stiff and ached cruelly. With this reply, the said Raja Maliyo returned to the King.

The next day, the King’s two sons, the [crown] prince and his brother, accompanied by around 4,000 men and the royal splendour of music instruments, plus very many caitoquas [and] parasols[18] trimmed with gold and silver and other royal emblems, came to us to fetch the letters and gifts. The prince accepted the letter and laid it in a golden dish which he bore in his own hands. The great ones of the realm carried the gifts on silver dishes, while salutes were loosed from their firearms, and [they] escorted me to the palace staircase. Here the prince bore the letter to his father while I waited below with the great men. The King had the letter read, and after this had been done His Majesty presented me with the requisites for betel quids on a large silver salver, informing me that I was fortunate and courageous to undertake such a great journey, daring to brave such great dangers passing through the forest, and in spite of all had arrived without hindrance. And he had never heard of any Christian who had come as far as [I] had on this journey. He enquired what sort of passion or curiosity had driven me to undertake it. I replied, nothing else other than that the Honourable Mr Cornelis van Quaalbergen, incumbent Governor of Malacca, who was my superior, had ordered me to enquire after His Majesty’s well-being. To which he replied that he was very happy to hear this and he was obliged to the Lord Governor. In future as a good friend would be at His Excellency’s service.

Finally the King said that he had been ashamed by Paduka Raja and his machinations, and thereupon he ordered Raja Maliyo to prepare a dwelling for me, and to provide me with anything I might require, yea indeed, everything that I desired should be given me, saying to me I should go with the aforesaid Raja, which I did after taking my respectful leave and I was escorted to the place of residence ordained for me.

After two or three days had elapsed, I went to some of the great men, asking them if I could speak to the King again. They answered me that this would not be possible and that it was enough to have spoken with the King on the first occasion. Indeed, this had been an extraordinary honour and act of beneficence.

Having weighed up the situation, I reached the conclusion that this refusal had been caused more by the suspicious and malicious opinions held by the nobles than by any command or desire of the King, as I had found His Majesty very affable and talkative. Hence I resolved to reply to them[19] in this fashion and said: “I could and had indeed spoken with the Great Turk, who is such a great ruler, therefore why should I not speak to His Majesty again, since the King himself claims that this Turk is his brother in arms?” This silenced the said great men and disarmed their evil intentions.

In the meantime, I mulled over what would be the best course for me to take to attain [what I wanted], but could come to no better solution than to resort to some ruse or other to achieve it. Hence, I devised a scheme which, as Your Excellency will read hereinafter, did produce an extremely good result. During my time there I had already heard that the mother of oft-mentioned Raja Maliyo had great and ready access to the court, especially to the Queen. Therefore I approached her and asked her if she would graciously hand over a message of mine to the Queen and draw Her Majesty’s attention to the fact that I had come so far, risking many and varied perils to my life as I had been sent by His Excellency the Governor of Malacca as an envoy bearing His Excellency’s letter. [Saying] that I very greatly desired to speak to the King, Her Majesty’s husband, again. The reply I had received from some of the great men to whom I had spoken on this matter and requested the same was that this was absolutely impossible. Hence they refused. This seemed strange to me not to mention trumped up. Hence, I respectfully begged Her Majesty to send an affirmative message, so that if, it stated that this would not be possible, my mind would be put at rest.

The result of this was more auspicious than I could have possibly dared hope for because the Queen sent me some betel nuts or arecas on a silver salver covered with a yellow cloth with the message that I would be summoned by the King in three days’ time. This pleased me immensely and immediately joy and expectation that this would indeed happen were born within me.

Having spent three days [nurturing] this great hope, the oft-mentioned Raja Maliyo came to me with twelve persons carrying royal standards to announce to me that the King had summoned me. I immediately accompanied him to the palace and on arrival at the first gate I saw there at least a hundred people with their unsheathed swords in their hands. At the second gate I saw four and at the third gate just two, all in the same stance as those at the first. There I saw the King sitting with his Council and just a few of his hajis. As soon as I entered, I hastened to perform the appropriate courtesies to which the King seemed to attach great importance as he said at once to the great men who were present: ‘You told me that the Christians were crude people, utterly ignorant of any courtesies. I find that you have misled me, and now it has been shown in my presence and yours that they are pretty well-versed in the same courtesies you possess.’[20]

After the King had finished, I requested leave to speak to His Majesty, to which he answered: ‘The Envoy has leave to speak.’ I said: ‘Your Majesty’s people have pulled the wool over your eyes, and plugged your ears with wax, consequently Your Majesty has not yet heard what is going on in the world, and whether this good or bad, it is kept hidden from Your Majesty’s sight.’ To this the King replied to me in the affirmative, adding the following words: ‘Today my eyes have been opened so that now I can see clearly and never again shall I trust the words of my people whenever they speak of matters of which they are ignorant, either because they have not investigated them or because they have neither observed or heard of of them.’ He then addressed his great men: ‘Are you aware no text records that any Christian has ever visited any of my ruling ancestors, so, when it has pleased the Lord Governor of Malacca to send Thomas Dias hither, this is the first such visit here and I am greatly delighted with his arrival. Therefore write this down in my chronicle, specifically mentioning the names of the Lord Governor and of the Ambassador, because never before this has an envoy from Malacca ventured to the realm of Pagarruyung.’ He then turned to me and commanded me to request whatever I desired. I replied in the name of the Honourable Company that I desired no other than to be assured of His Majesty’s good health affirming its affection and service, which for lack of anything better had given me orders to kiss His Majesty’s feet.

Hereafter it pleased the King to enquire of me whether I was the man who had offered his cousin Raja Hitam accommodation in Malacca: ‘Because in one of the letters he sent me he mentioned that one nachoda Thomas Dias had offered him shelter in Malacca.’ Thereupon I turned to His Majesty and begged that he would graciously overlook the paltry reception of his cousin in Malacca because had I known that the said Raja Hitam was His Majesty’s cousin, I would once more right heartily have shown my duty to him.

The King then dismissed his nobles, so all who remained were Raja Maliyo, his secretary and three hajis; the King descended from his throne and seated himself alongside me on an Al-Qatif carpet, and once again repeated to me his first question, asking what I wanted. I again answered His Majesty the King in the same manner I had done before, saying that there was nothing I desired, but the King plied me with it once more. He said, ‘As I have never had a Christian here before, I would be honoured if I would accept the title of Orang Kaya Saudagar Raja, in other words ‘my merchant’,’ and he went on to say, ‘orang di dalam istana (courtier)’ and said that ‘he would send me confirmation of this at ten o’clock tomorrow morning’. The following day I went to the palace at that same hour and when I entered I saw the King and his notables sitting in judgement, but hardly had I paid my respects to honour the King but he raised his voice and called: ‘Oh, Orang Kaya Saudagar Raja, [my] courtier.’ I turned to the King and replied with the greatest respect: ‘Daulat Tuan.’

Then a silver dish, a yellow standard and a weapon inlaid with silver resembling a halberd were brought to me as well as a ring of tembaga suasa,[21] which I shall cherish as a token from His Majesty as long as I shall live. This was accompanied by an official document to which his seal was affixed, announcing as the deed showed he had granted me three harbours, to wit: Siak, Patapan and Indragiri in which I could pursue the trade of the Honourable Company and that of my own. As a token of acceptance, I thanked His Majesty courteously and begged him leave to speak and he said on such an occasion nothing more needed to be said: ‘Because, once I have accepted such a person among my courtiers, as you have been appointed my merchant, he is permitted to come and go at will and to speak when he chooses just as other members of my court do’. When he said this, I displayed my respectful gratitude and said: ‘His Majesty is undoubtedly aware of the fact that the King of Johor has appropriated Siak as his own and that Indragiri has its own ruler’, to which he answered: ‘Earlier I granted Siak to the Johor royal children as a place of rest and relaxation, but because of the anger and treachery of Paduka Raja against my cousin Raja Hitam, l have withdrawn my permission, and if the King of Johor claims that Siak belongs to him, I demand that he produce evidence of when it passed into his hands. Moreover, Indragiri is my vassal[22] as far as the sea coast and, according to reports but a short while ago, the King had sought my forgiveness which I was not prepared to grant him or to receive any tribute from him, not just because of his personal iniquity against me, but because he had consulted outsiders and consented to allow the servants of the Honourable Company there to be treacherously slain in their lodge, to be killed and robbed.[23] Should the Honourable Company approve that I avenge this with my army, all it has to do is to inform me of this and to send just two ships. In this manner we should be able to expel them from there and [with my] assent the Honourable Company can build a fort there according to its own specifications and I shall arrange for it to have the merchants there to trade as before, because Indragiri produces nothing itself, yea even has to wait for its bare essentials [to be brought] from my kingdom’.

The King added that it pleased him to authorize me full powers of jurisdiction over the three ports or trading places, to condemn and to punish all who deserved punishment, yea I could even execute he who had committed a capital crime and confiscate his estate, all this in the widest sense. Should a person sell his people as slaves, I should be able to claim them.

Moreover the King announced that he was planning to write a reply to His Excellency the Governor and enquired of me what would be the most suitable presents he could send back so as the acknowledge what had been sent and if I thought that such reciprocation was a good idea. I replied: ‘Your Most Excellent Majesty is aware that in the Honourable Company’s warehouses and in those of My Lord Governor’s lies a quantity of gold, and that I had not been sent hither to collect more, but only to learn of His Majesty’s good health and to offer affection as a good friend should do.’ To which he replied that he was mightily obliged to be such a friend of His Excellency the Governor and to display this he felt obliged to send one of his state horses[24] to the Lord Governor as a token of this. I said that nothing else was desired and to beg that it would please him grant a place in his kingdom for reciprocal trade whether that be Siak or Patapan. ‘That’, [he] said ‘will certainly take place if you will assist in [achieving] the same’. And when I questioned more closely about which of the three aforementioned places His Majesty would especially care to nominate, and if he would graciously present me with a document confirming this and hand it over to me so that the local people could be advised of this, or whether [I should] personally approach them to announce it to them myself, the King replied that I should come to him next day to receive the letter and the answer. Hereafter I took my leave and returned to my lodgings.

The next day I went to the King and a written letter of reply was put into my hands as well as two clean sheets of paper onto which the King’s seal had been affixed so that the Lord Governor and I could use one of these to write to Rombou,[25] the other to be used by either the Lord Governor or me on another occasion or in another place whenever the Lord Governor and I should think this fitting. Hereupon I said that that it was very likely that such [papers] would not be believed in Malacca. Whereupon His Majesty re-opened the letter which had been sealed and his secretaries inscribed on that same [letters] stating that they were cartes blanches. The King then asked me how he could be assured that a letter really came from me. Thereupon I showed him my signet ring and said that such would be sealed with the same. Thereupon he ordered me to impress my signet ring onto a plank in the palace, where it would be kept as an example to be compared with any incoming letter.

After this the King personally presented me with his betel quid, filled with two areca nuts and also gave me a small coffer in which there were two inappropriate images, saying: ‘This was sent me from by commander or Admiral with the Panglima Raja, who conveyed it in the greatest secrecy and presented to me as something of uncommon value and he had entreated the Panglima very earnestly that I should not allow you to reach me. Take it with you and show it to His Excellency the Governor for his Lordship’s judgement of this Admiral’s discretion in presenting me with such a scandalous gift.’ I accepted this coffer and promised that I would execute His Majesty’s wishes and I was also straightway handed the letter. Shortly thereafter I took my leave with the greatest respect and left the palace and prepared for my departure.

However, at this point, before proceeding any farther, I think it necessary to insert here what happened to a Moorish sailor who appeared to be in the habit of coming here to the court in the guise of a haji, conduct allowed among Muslims without having to request permission. It seems that he had recently come covertly and went to the King professing to be a holy man recently departed from Mekka, the custodian of the grave of their most holy saint the Prophet Muhammad. He had come to His Majesty’s realm to greet the King and offer his duties but was without any suspicion that in His Majesty’s country there were Christians and people who wore hats, adding that His Majesty was too great and sacred a King to suffer such accursed people in his kingdom et cetera, saying that it would be best to expel them and other suchlike reasoning. One of the princes, I do not know by whose orders, informed me of this and I and some of my entourage hastened to the court as quickly as possible.

As we reached the palace, we met this holy haji exiting from the building and, getting a better look at him, one of my men recognized this haji, saying that he was a drunken Moorish sailor who had fled to Riau from Malacca because of his debts. When we entered we did not keep this news to ourselves, but told the King who, after some exchange of words, too long to repeat here, said: ‘He has drunk wine and has been inebriated, hence he is no longer a haji but an imposter, sent here for some trickery or other. Go after him and strike him dead.’ Upon this order, we immediately saw some 3 to 400 men dash out to execute him and so this deceitful hindrance met his end. Passing on from this holy haji, we shall once more take up our account.

After we attended the aforesaid farewell ceremony, we were escorted by the oft-mentioned Raja Maliyo with a white parasol adorned with many tassels and a suite of 3,000 soldiers who fired their weapons at regular intervals until we reached the vicinity of the town Luca[26] as evening fell. Here Raja Maliyo and the aforesaid 3,000 soldiers returned to the court while we followed the road to Luca unafraid. Just past Luca flows a river called the Kuantan. From there I came to the place called Maranty[27] and from there the town Sunipo.[28] Thereafter we reached the township Ungam[29] and, upon leaving Ungam, we came to a mountain which is marked as Madiangem[30] on the map. From the aforementioned Luca to this mountain is the area where gold, which occurs there naturally, is found.

From there we came to another township called Air Tanam,[31] from there to another township called Pancalan Serre,[32] and thence proceeded to Turusan[33] from where we went to Kotabaru.[34] Here I spoke with the people about trade in the name of the Honourable Company, assuring them they had nothing to fear from Paduka Raja. From here we journeyed to the township Merorum[35] and from there to Merobiaan.[36] After this we came across the township of Tanjung Bale[37] and then the township of Pasar Lama.[38] Departing from there, we came to the township Oedjom Boket,[39] and from here to the township Damo[40] and from Damo to the township Sava[41] and from Sava to the township Cuncto,[42] from Cuncto to the township Lagumo[43] and from Lagumo to Lipa Cain,[44] and from here to the township Pacu,[45] whence to Calubee[46] and from there on to Padan,[47] and from Kota Pandan we arrived in Belenbun [Sibelimbing] from where we reached Air Tiris.

In all these townships I encouraged the people to engage in trade with the Honourable Company, assuring them they had nothing to fear from it or needed to be afraid of it. All they had to do was to come to Patapan or Malacca where they might find me (and they all promised to do this and be of service to the Honourable Company) and they would be able to ply their trade. Departing from here, after I had done everything mentioned above, I arrived back in Patapan safe and sound, where I took delivery of Your Excellency’s letter and its contents resolved me to obey Your Excellency’s command as soon as possible first and foremost to return to Malacca with the oft-mentioned Raja Maliyo, who had come along as royal envoy, and ,Praise be to God, landed there safely.

After your Excellency has been informed of all which had befallen as concisely as possible, I thought that Your Excellency would not take it amiss if a succinct elucidation of all the townships was appended to this, describing their inhabitants and their doings. We shall commence with the court of Pagarruyung, where we arrived last and from which we departed first and say of the court that 8,000 [armed] men reside there, but I cannot speak of its environs as I did not see these. And to have made enquiries into this would indubitably have aroused suspicion against me.

Luca which comes next has around 400 men under arms and its main pursuits are agriculture and seeking gold which is there for the picking up. They dig it up and take it out of the ground, using shallow wooden troughs which they either float on the water or dip into the water and swirl around until[48] they have separated the mineral from the soil, after which they take it out and keep it.

Maranty is a district rich in gold, but its inhabitants, whose number is far more numerous than the previous small district, are forbidden by the King to excavate it or search for it and are supposed to earn their livelihood principally from agriculture. It has 2 to 300 traders.

Sumpo, inhabited by some 8,000 citizens, is also rich in gold, but this is not mined for the reasons just mentioned and they earn their living in the same way as the preceding people. Has around 200 merchants.

Ungaan has some 800 citizens and its geography is the same as the preceding district, but has more traders in proportion to its citizens as their number also hovers around 200.

Mount Mandy Argam yields also gold but is not inhabited.

Air Taman counts around 200 men, all of them farmers.

Pacalan Sirre[49] has around 1,000 residents, all of whom with the exception of 200 traders work in agriculture.

Turusan [has] some 700 residents, of whom 100 are merchants and the rest farmers.

In Costa Bato there are 200 residents, half of them farmers, the other half earn an income from trade.

Mererin contains around 1,000 men, of whom 300 are traders.

Merobia 400, all farmers.

Tanjung Bale has 2,000 inhabitants, all farmers with the exception of 500 merchants.

Pasar Rama 1,000, among them 400 traders.

Ujung Bukit 400, all farmers.

Dama has 1,000, of whom 100 are merchants.

Padan Savan 500, 200 of whom engage in trade.

Cuncto[50] 2,000, of whom around 500 merchants.

Lipa Caen around 100, all farmers.

Catapadan (Kota Padan) has a similar number, all farmers.

Ridam has only fifty peasants.

Air Tiris has some 10,000 inhabitants,[51] of whom around 500 are merchants.

I have made an estimate of all these in order to be of service to Your Excellency because I did not dare to ask [specific numbers] in order not to arouse any pernicious suspicions, not least because Paduka Raja has already tried to cast suspicion on those nations. As in the custom of the country, all the aforesaid places, which I have designated by the term, township, are fortified with palisades, but I have not been able to recall the names of the villages and hamlets lying in between because these are too numerous.

Signed by Your Excellency’s faithful and obedient servant, […] Thomas Dias. In the margin: Malacca 18th September 1684.



[1] First published by F. de Haan as: “Naar midden Sumatra in 1684”, Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde uitgegeven door het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen 39 (1897), pp. 327-366. This is a revised and collated version of De Haan’s transcription. This English translation excludes comments on the correct transcription of the old Dutch words.

[2] The Governor and Political Council in Malacca.

[3] In the manuscript ‘13th’.

[4] June.

[5] Marsden, The History of Sumatra (London: Thomas Payne, 1784, second edition), p. 357 says that the voyage to Patapan took eight days.

[6] A Datu Bendara was still in charge of the district (negorij) of Patapan at the end of the 19th century, See J. A. van Rijn van Alkemade, “Beschrijving eener Reis van Bengkalis langs de Rokan-rivier naar Rantau Binoewang”, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land-, en Volkenkunde 32 (’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1883), pp. 21-48. R. Everwijn, “Verslag van een onderzoekingsreis in het rijk van Siak”, Natuurkundig Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsch-Indië 29 (1867), p. 298, estimated the population to be 350 people and called it ‘the principal trading place in the Siak Highlands’. In the 19th century, gold exports from Minangkabau still took place via Patapan, not via the west coast. Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 355.

[7] Southwest of Patapan on the Kampar Kanan, J. W. IJzerman, Dwars door Sumatra. Tocht van Padang naar Siak onder leiding van den hoofd-ingenieur der staats-spoorwegen J. W. IJzerman (Haarlem: F. Bohn, 1895), p. 149, ‘No European penetrated these regions because: orang V kota lawan Companie’.

[8] The easiest way to make the journey in the late 19th century can be found in IJzerman, Dwars door Sumatra, p. 477.

[9] Laurens Jansz Schrieck.

[10] On 18 April 1684 Nicolaas Schaghen was appointed Cornelis van Quaalbergh’s successor. However, the new governor only sailed to Malacca a few months later.

[11] Everwijn, “Verslag van een onderzoekingsreis” p. 209. ‘From Patapahang the road to Air Tiris turns southwards. The is the principal and shortest trading route to the west coast of Sumatra, especially the L kotas.’ (The Limapuluh Kota).

[12] Everwijn, “Verslag”,p. 352 says: ‘The district of Sibelimbing which lies on the border of the V Kota’. The road from Air Tiris does pass through there.

[13] Everwijn “Verslag”, p. 352 states that Kotapadang and Paku are situated in the small realm of Kampar Kiri.

[14] According to Everwijn’s map in the Jaarboek van het Mijnwezen, 1874, Vol. 1, the town of Paku is situated on the left bank of the Kampar Kiri at a place where an unnamed tributary flows into it. From our travel account, it seems that it should be located on the right bank. Perhaps it is the same place marked Gunung Salihan on IJzerman’s sketch map, where the footpath from Air Tiris reaches the Kampar Kiri. See IJzerman, Dwars door Sumatra, p. 39.

[15] Not found. Possibly Mount Sinnoh on the border of the Government territory.

[16] Probably Ngungun, see below note 25xxx.

[17] This number was probably prescribed by etiquette. More than nine persons had accompanied the Sultan’s letter.

[18] Quitasol or kippersol­, bastard Portuguese for a sunshade or parasol. It is not clear what caitoquas means.

[19] The aforesaid nobles.

[20] Here there is clearly a break.

[21] With reference to copper, Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 173, reports that the Malays were fond of mixing this metal with gold in equal quantities and using the composition, which they called swasa, in the manufacture of buttons, boxes and the hilts of krises.

[22] According to indigenous tradition in Netscher, Indisch Archief, p. 111, p. 33, Indragiri was Minangkabau. Nevertheless, as early as the beginning of the 16th century it was held in fief by the rulers of Malacca, who later fled to Johor (Tiele, “Europeers”, p. 1, p. 67). On 20 June 1685, the Daily Journals of Batavia Castle records that ‘the King of Indragiri’ had come to Riau ‘ the pay his customary obeisance at the court’.

[23] This refers to the attack by the people of Bantam in 1679.

[24] Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 342, speaking of the Sultan of Minangkabau states that ‘his usual present on sending an embassy is a pair of white horses.’

[25] Rombou, here: Rombon. It refers to the small state on the Malay Peninsula ‘whose sultan and all the principal officers of state hold authority immediately from Minangkabau and have written commissions for their respective officers’, see Marsden, History of Sumatra, p. 332. See also T. J. Newbold, Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlemenst in the Straits of Malacca, viz. Pinang, Malacca, and Singapore; with a History of the Malayan States on the peninsula of Malacca, Vol. II (London: John Murray, 1839), II, 70; 81; 224.

[26] Siluka, mentioned by IJzerman, Dwars door Sumatra, p. 99, p. 103 etc.

[27] Manganti, northwest of Siluka.

[28] Later this township is called Sumpo, that is Sumpur, northwest of Menganti.

[29] Ungan, north of Sumpur.

[30] Mandi Angin.

[31] Called Air Tanang by IJzerman, situated on the border of the Padang Highlands.

[32] Pangkalan Sarai. IJzerman, Dwars door Sumatra, p. 37 states that the Batang Sibayang is navigable for larger vessels.

[33] Tarusan.

[34] Not recorded on sketch map.

[35] Mariring.

[36] Not recorded on sketch map.

[37] Tanjung.

[38] Pasar Ramoh.

[39] Ujung Bukit.

[40] Domo.

[41] Padang Sawah.

[42] Kuntu.

[43] Not recorded on sketch map.

[44] Lipat Kain.

[45] Mentioned by Everwijn.

[46] Not found.

[47] For this place and the next see above.

[48] Although the word dragen (carry) is used, they swirl them as I have seen at Montrade. Washing gold they swirl a wooden dish, whose rim is at water level, around quickly.

[49] Compare the following figures with those in IJzerman, op. cit. p.38. According to a 19th-century report by a district officer (controleur, [Den Haan didn’t mention a name], the number of houses at Pangkalan Sirre is now 15, at Tarusan 8, Mariring 10, Tanjung Balit 20, Pasar Ramoh 4, Ujung Bukit 3, Domo 5, Kuntu 30, Lipat Kain 10. In other words, the population has shrunk considerably. As a matter of fact, various writers in have spoken of a large-scale emigration out of these regions at the end of the 19th century.

[50] IJzerman writes it is still the most important settlement, with 300 able-bodied men.

[51] Everwijn, “Verslag van een onderzoeksreis”, p. 351, estimates the total population of the V kotas, in which Air Tiris is situated, at 10,000.