district of country in the southern extremity of the island of Sumatra, which begins on the west coast at the river Padanggoochie, and extends across the island as far as Palembang on the north-east side, at which place the settlers are mostly Javans. On the south and east sides it is washed by the sea, having several ports in the straits of Sunda, particularly Keyser's and Lampong Bays. It is intersected by the great river Sulangbawang, which rises from a considerable lake between the ranges of the mountains. The rivers overflow their banks in the rainy season; and the villages situated on the higher grounds appear like islands. The western parts are mountainous, and some of the peaks are visible at a considerable distance from the sea. The central and mountainous parts of the country are best inhabited, the people being secured from the inroads of their eastern neighbours the Javans. Of all the Sumatrans, the inhabitants of this district bear the strongest resemblance to the Chinese, particularly in their round faces, and the oblique direction of their eyes. Their women are esteemed fair and handsome, and an extraordinary degree of freedom is allowed between the sexes. They have been mostly converted from the Mahommedan religion, and there are mosques in almost all their villages; but their attachment to their old superstitions still leads them to regard with a peculiar veneration the burying-places of their fathers, which they piously adorn. Some of these inland people pay a kind of adoration to the sea, whose irresistible power is often felt on the coasts of India, and in the islands in the midst of these seas, on whose shores tremendous surfs, from the wide expanse of the Pacific Ocean, are constantly breaking, and rise frequently to the greatest height, without any apparent cause. The Dutch claim the dominion of the country; and towards the end of the eighteenth century an officer was sent to the bay of Lampong, from Batavia, to fix on a favourable situation for a fort, barracks, and storehouses. The bay of Lampong affords good anchorage, being wide and deep.