Transportation on the west coast of Sumatra in the nineteenth century

Thefootpaths Until the middle of the nineteenth century, footpaths were the sole infrastructure for land transportation, making the relationship between the coastal and interior regions possible. Since the early history of this region, footpaths had been used to meet the need of people living in the interior for salt from the coast. Local residents, traders, and travellers using footpaths had to pay uang jalan (footpath fee) at certain toll posts, usually located at the border of a nagari (village); the fee was paid to the local penghulu. Because of the great number of nagari along the footpaths, local people and other travellers had to pay the fee many times. [...]of all this building activity, in 1900 the Gouvernement van Sumatra's Westkust was, outside of Java, the province with the longest distance of roads and the largest number of bridges. [...]after more than six months, the Chinese traders withdrew from the competition and the entire trade of salt and other commodities between Pariaman and Padang Panjang feil into the hands of Malay traders (Saleh 1965:217-22).