Somewhat later Pasei was a great and famous city. Majapahit, Malacca, and
Pasei being reckoned the three great cities of the Archipelago. The
stimulus of conversion to Islam had not taken effect on those Sumatran
states at the time of Polo's voyage, but it did so soon afterwards, and,
low as they have now fallen, their power at one time was no delusion.
Achin, which rose to be the chief of them, in 1615 could send against
Portuguese Malacca an expedition of more than 500 sail, 100 of which were
galleys larger than any then constructed in Europe, and carried from 600
to 800 men each.
[Dr. Schlegel writes to me that according to the Malay Dictionary of Von de
Wall and Van der Tuuk, n. 414-415, Polo's Basman is the Arab
pronunciation of Paseman, the modern Ophir in West Sumatra. Gunung
Paseman is Mount Ophir. - H.C.]
[Illustration: The three Asiatic Rhinoceroses, (upper) Indicus, (middle)
Sondaicus, (lower) Sumatranus.[2]]
NOTE 5. - The elephant seems to abound in the forest tracts throughout the
whole length of Sumatra, and the species is now determined to be a
distinct one (E. Sumatranus) from that of continental India and identical
with that of Ceylon.[3] The Sumatran elephant in former days was caught
and tamed extensively.
