The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-03-21

so important that at one time its rulers
received embassies from the greatest
potentates in Europe, that of England
included.
Achn is probably the most war rid
den state in the world For a hundred
years it has known but little peace, first
with one land then with another, but
principally with the Dutch. The end of
this protracted war is, however, believ-
ed to be within sight at last During
the last three years the Dutch have
won repeated victories. Batoeilik. the
strongest fortified garrison Of the
Achinese, is hard pressed and it's fall is
expected to result in the surrender of
! the natives.
| A race that can resist for number
! of years a well organized invasion of
| European troops is worthy of some at
| tention. The country is situated in the
north Of Sumatra. 1t is the only state
! in the island that still remains indepen-
dent of the Dutch, but, as already fore
Swallowed, It's independence appears to
be now doomed The population num-
bers about S2S,OoO.
Before its decline, which commenced
early in the eighteenth century, Achin
was in close touch commercially with
| England. 1t was to the port of Achin
that London merchants directed their
first efforts toward securing trade in
the indies, Queen Eliza beth sent con-
ftdential communications to the King of
Achin by special envoy, and James I.
also correspondent with the raigning
monarch, who lived in such luxurious
style that he had nine hundred state
elephants, To this day there stand near
the gate of the kings palace a couple
of brass cannon of extraordinary size.
They We're present from James I. to
the ruler Of Achin. They still bear the
founders name and the date legibly in
scribed upon them.
So considerable in fact, was Achin's
one time power that to reduce Malacca
it fitted out an armada of no fewer than
five hundred ships, a hundred of which
We're larger than any then used in Eu-
rope. The ships carried sixty thou
sand men, with the king himself in
command.
Moreover, at one time Achin produced
more gold than any other country in
the east, excepting perhaps Japan One
chronicler fixes the annual output at
$4,000 ounces, For fifty-eight years fe- /
male sovereigns reigned, and the foreign
residents in Achin believe, though erro-
neously, that the Queen of Sheba was
Queen of Achin.
The Achinese employ minted money,
including a gold coin stamped with Ara
bic characters called mas"
Great stretches of the interior have
not yet been explored but from sea-
ward two gigantic volcanic mountains
rising to height of about 1000 feet
are visible.
Little also Is known of the language.
This, perhaps, is not strange, notwith-
the great career which Achin
once had. Languages, like peoples and
like greatness, wither away and are
forgotten where there is a dminution in
national vigor or else they change so
that they are unrecogniza-
BILE. We are. however, able to give the
following mineral table of the Achinese
from one to ten
One, Sab; 2, Qua; g. Thu; 4. Pot; s,
Limung; 6, Nam; T. Tuju; 8, Dlappan;
}, Sakurang, and TO- Saplu
Though once powerful enough to drive
he Portuguese out of the island and to
nave fleet and an army that were the {
anvy of larger countries, Achn has
slowly drifted into the limbo of forgot ]
en- states and now appears destined to
disappear from the map altogethar- {
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