and there was, therefore, a very strong reason for establishing at the earliest moment independent relations with the chief sources of supply.
Acheen, on the north-east coast of Sumatra, is chiefly familiar to the present generation as the scene of an apparently unending war between the Dutch and the local Malay power, arising out of the unwillingness of the natives to accept the yoke imposed permanently upon them by the arrangement made between Great Britain and Holland nearly a century ago, under which, roughly speaking, British rights in Sumatra were renounced in exchange for a like renunciation on the part of the Dutch Government of any title to Singapore or to political influence in the Peninsular States. But many years before that struggle commenced—long, indeed, before Europeans appeared in force in the East—Acheen had been an important commercial centre by reason of its strategic position at the northern end of the Straits of Malacca and its proximity to the principal spice-growing districts in that region. The Dutch had thought so well of it that they had promptly established a factory there, and amongst the first to welcome Lancaster were two Hollanders, who had been left behind to look after the Dutch interests. From them Lancaster learned not only that the King was well disposed to strangers, but that he held in especial estimation the English, on account of their great victory over the Spaniards in the Armada fight, about which he appeared to be well informed.
The course of events showed that the Dutch visitors to the English fleet had not exaggerated the impression made upon this distant Eastern potentate's mind by the memorable conflict of 1588. Curiosity, mingled no doubt with a feeling of self-interest, prompted him to receive with open
