and but very rarely have the almost impervious woods of Sumatra been
penetrated to any considerable distance from the sea coast by Europeans,
whose observations have been then imperfect, trusted perhaps to memory
only, or, if committed to paper, lost to the world by their deaths. Other
difficulties arise from the extraordinary diversity of national
distinctions, which, under a great variety of independent governments,
divide this island in many directions; and yet not from their number
merely, nor from the dissimilarity in their languages or manners, does
the embarrassment entirely proceed: the local divisions are perplexed and
uncertain; the extent of jurisdiction of the various princes is
inaccurately defined; settlers from different countries and at different
periods have introduced an irregular though powerful influence that
supersedes in some places the authority of the established governments,
and imposes a real dominion on the natives where a nominal one is not
assumed. This, in a course of years, is productive of innovations that
destroy the originality and genuineness of their customs and manners,
obliterate ancient distinctions, and render confused the path of an
investigator.

These objections, which seem to have hitherto proved unsurmountable with
such as might have been inclined to attempt the history of Sumatra, would
also have deterred me from an undertaking apparently so arduous, had I
not reflected that those circumstances in which consisted the principal
difficulty were in fact the least interesting to the public, and of the
least utility in themselves. It is of but small importance to determine
with precision whether a few villages on this or that particular river
belong to one petty chief or to another; whether such a nation is divided
into a greater or lesser number of tribes; or which of two neighbouring
powers originally did homage to the other for its title. History is only
to be prized as it tends to improve our knowledge of mankind, to which