The coast, as we proceeded, maintained its picturesque character, the high land being clothed with timber, and the low coast trending between the more elevated parts, of a somewhat similar character to some portions of the island of Java and other islands of the Indian Archipelago, was profusely covered with vegetation. On “Pulo Way,” several clear, and apparently cultivated patches of land were visible, and smoke of fires; but no habitations could be perceived. Most of the island was a dense jungle, seeming only calculated as a refuge for wild animals in the midst of its wilderness of luxuriant vegetation. The coast off which we had anchored this evening, was, for the most part, low; except the land being elevated as it rose from the “Point Pedro,” but it was not of such a verdant character as the mountainous coast we had previously passed during the day. The low land, however, abounded in trees; among which, the cocoa-nut palm was both numerous and conspicuous.
The following morning, at sunrise, the atmosphere was delightfully cool and refreshing; and the land-breeze brought off with it a delicious fragrance. At daylight, we weighed, passed “Point Pedro,” and then the vessel sailed at a distance only of three miles from the shore, in from twelve to fourteen fathoms water, which afforded an excellent view of the varying features of the Acheenese coast, as we proceeded. During the early part of the morning, the towering, peaked summit of the “Golden Mountain” was visible and perfectly clear; but as the day advanced, it became capped with clouds: it was elevated far above the mountains in the vicinity, and seems situated some distance inland. The west side of the mountain was clothed with wood to the summit, and exhibits nothing in its aspect from which the name of “Golden” could be supposed to be derived; but, as the Malays term it the “Gonnong Mas,” or Golden Mountain, it has probably obtained the appellation from them on account of gold having been found upon it; and the English name is merely a translation of the Malay. The eastern side of the mountain has a similar densely wooded appearance from the base to the summit, as just mentioned of the western.
The morning was fine and clear; and as we sailed along the high picturesque coast of this portion (north-east) of the beautiful island of Sumatra, with light and variable winds from west-south-west to north-west, it was extremely agreeable; but, at the same time often caused me to feel regret that I could not revel amidst the botanical and other natural productions the coast and adjacent hills seemed to produce in profusion. Besides the elevated “Golden Mountain,” there were many of great height, some of a saddle form, and the crateric summits of others imparted additional importance to the beautiful romantic scenery around them.
The hills became less wooded as we advanced to the eastward, and lost much of their tropical character. This peculiar feature of the country was, however, occasionally resumed—a sandy beach, upon which large trees were scattered, with a few thatched habitations of the natives, peeping from the dense foliage of the trees which grew about, with the cocoa-nut palms waving their feathered branches above them—this again gave the tropical character to our view; but the receding hills terminating in mountainous country, now but thinly covered with vegetation, varied the landscape, and it possessed little to remind the stranger of inter-tropical scenery.
It was soon after noonday, when we passed the bluff point, named in the charts, the “Lover’s Leap,” and the coast beyond maintained, for some distance, similar features to that we had passed, excepting some portions which had an increase of picturesque beauty: the receding hills were not so elevated; white cliffs, bare of shrubs or any kind of vegetation, rose almost perpendicularly from the beach about the “Lover’s Leap;” but still further eastward, the coast again abounded in trees. Hills rose above hills, having, in part, a cleared appearance; but, in general, vegetation was most abundant. Lofty mountains formed the distant prospect; above the whole of which, the “Golden Mountain” reared its peaked summit, terminating the rich and varied landscape in an extremely beautiful manner.
From the few houses and canoes seen about this part of the coast, there seems to be a paucity of inhabitants, and no cultivation of the land was visible. The natives, however, may live in the fertile valleys, a short distance from the sea-coast, and concealed from our view. The wind and current being adverse, it was impossible for the ship to make any progress, and we therefore anchored about seven P.M. in twelve fathoms, a few miles to the eastward of the “Lover’s Leap.”
The next day we proceeded along the coast, the features of which were similar to that before described; but beyond “Pedir Point,” the country assumed a more populous and cultivated appearance: cocoa-palms abounded on the beach; thatched houses of the natives were numerous, and canoes and larger boats were busily fishing; the whole aspect of the coast was animated and picturesque. From light winds and calms, and strong adverse currents, we were often obliged to anchor, and did not reach the anchorage off the village of Pedir until the afternoon of the subsequent day (the 1st of July).
The situation of “Pedir” is an extensive, fertile flat, interspersed with low verdant hills, and the distance terminating in lofty mountains, covered most profusely with vegetation. The village of “Pedir” (from which some extent of coast, to the eastward, has been named by Europeans the “Pedir Coast”) is situated a short distance up a small and narrow river: the residence of the rajah, and a portion of the village, could be distinguished from the shipping in the roadstead. The plain through which the river flows, and upon the banks of which the village of Pedir is situated, is an extensive flat, or, for the most part, a series of marshes abounding in rice plantations, and extending to some distance inland, apparently terminated by a dense jungle and ranges of mountains towering one above the other; to the westward it becomes hilly, trending out towards “Pedir Point;” and to the eastward terminates in lofty mountains, at some distance. This description is given from the appearance of the country as seen from the anchorage. The whole line of coast has a beautiful and luxuriant character, abounding in cocoa-nut, areka, and other palms; and beneath the trees the thatched roofs of native houses are occasionally seen.
Some vessels, belonging to the rajah of Acheen, were at anchor off “Pedir;” and others, having English colours flying, off the villages further to the eastward. The ships belonging to the Acheenese rajah were designated “men of war;” but a “grab,” among the number, was the only one originally the property of his highness, for it had just conquered the barque, at whose peak the Acheenese colours waved, but which had been the property of the rajah of Trumong, who resided on the west coast of Sumatra, and with whom the Acheenese monarch was at war: the remaining one under the Acheenese flag, was an English brig, of Penang, last from the Maldive Islands, with a cargo of dried fish: she was seized for trading in arms and ammunition with a rajah on the coast, who was at the time hostile to the king of Acheen. I shall have occasion to return to the latter affair at another part of this work.