English: Late 18th century view of the British settlement of Tapanuli on the small island of Punchon Cacheel (also called Tapanuli Island), at the entrance of Tapanuli Bay (also known as Sibolga Bay), Sumatra. Tapanuli (spelled Tappanooly then) was the northernmost of the string of settlements comprising British Bencoolen.

Elisha Trapaud, soldier, surveyor, draughtsman and amateur actor who joined East India Company 1776 and who took part in an expedition to survey Sumatra between 1783 and 1785, published in 1788 a book of 20 uncoloured aquatints, of which this one belongs. Inscription: S. W. View of the Island of Tappanooly on the S. W. Coast of Sumatra.

[Tappanooly] is on a small island, called Punchong cacheel, in the famous bay of Tappanooly, which is not surpassed, for natural advantages, in many parts of the world. Navigators say that all the navies of Europe might ride there with perfect security, in every weather. (William Marsden, The History of Sumatra, 1783).