Singkil

Singkil lies at the mouth of a large river on the western coast of northern Sumatra. The river opens a route from the Indian Ocean toward the Alas and Batak country of the interior. Tomé Pires described a kingdom here in the early sixteenth century, between Barus and the lands farther north. Inland traders carried goods such as camphor, benzoin and gold across the mountains, exchanging them for salt and cloth.