p. 147

Some 13 years ago, the Dutch completed the long stretch of wars and negotations and diplomatic. When the Dutch began their task of civilizing and developing the island of Sumatra, they heard strange tales of the wealth and power of a mysterious kingdom of Minang Kabout which occupies the interior of the Southern portion of the island and which boasted that its commercial relations extended from China to Turkey. It was a comparatively easy matter to subdue the people who occupied the hot low coast country, but [illegible] remained closed to them and every overture met with haughty disdain. In 1821, however,...